The City Commission is being lobbied to put a new charter amendment to referendum. The issue? Moving City elections from March to November. At first glance, this can look like a good idea. Proponents argue that city elections in November will generate greater voter turnout, and they are correct. But the dynamics that will change include an influx of PAC money and more partisan, expensive races. These changes may do much more harm than good. Democrats who believe they have a lock on city elections ought to take a second look, because some of the most vocal and visible proponents of moving elections to November are Republicans.

While municipal elections held in the spring do have a lower voter turnout, spring elections guarantee city issues receive a clear focus. Moving city elections to November can result in “ballot fatigue”—a multiple page, lengthy ballot, confusing to voters and resulting in large under-votes. City issues can get lost in the November’s cacophony of political messaging, struggling to compete with national and state races for voter attention. Bombarding voters with important decisions all at one time may not be in the best interests of our civic life.  

Perhaps most important, city voters will have less bandwidth in November to identify and understand who is behind mailers and political messaging looking to influence their local votes, because there will be so many more campaigns knocking at their doors and stuffing their mailboxes. The most recent unsuccessful elected mayor effort was backed by the political PAC “It’s Time Sarasota,” registered in Tallahassee. David Ramba, known for his GOP PAC activity statewide, was the PAC’s treasurer, demonstrating that big money PACs are already knocking on the City’s door. Being able to operate in the crowded November elections will serve PAC interests, not City voters.

Democrats who assume their party will inevitably benefit from moving municipal races to November should take a close look at the local GOP’s success in winning local elections by influencing voters through PAC activity. Make no mistake, when it comes to ensuring successful local election outcomes through PAC activity, the local GOP has a huge advantage over the local Dems, which is why friends and beneficiaries of the local GOP machine are among the loudest voices for moving the elections to November.  Dark money was a significant factor in Republican Bridget Zeigler's school board win over Democrat Ken Marsh in 2014. It’s noteworthy that Mrs. Ziegler recently appeared on a local talk show advocating for city elections to be moved to November.

The City Commission would do well to direct those who want to move City elections to November to get out and gather signatures to put the issue to ballot, rather than take the unprecedented step of putting the issue on the ballot themselves. The November election dynamics, which favor PACs, may hurt our nonpartisan City races, making it harder for the “little guy” to run. When it comes to moving City elections to November, we must ask that eternal political question: who benefits?

Cathy Antunes serves on the boards of the Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations and Sarasota Citizens for Responsible Government.