MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — One of the ‘no’ votes that prompted a surprising defeat to an ordinance that would have amended the City of Morgantown’s charter said he couldn’t get behind changing local election laws without also changing the date of the election.
“I’m not sure that we looked at it as holistically as we could have before we narrowed down our options,” said Ron Dulaney, a guest Wednesday morning on WAJR’s Morgantown AM. “But in the end it came down, for me, to the election date and increasing voter participation.”
City Council voted 4-3 in favor of the first reading of an ordinance that would have extended the number of years in a council member’s term from two years to four years, but a change of this kind required a two-thirds majority vote — meaning council was one ‘yes’ vote short.
“I don’t see us resurrecting this anytime soon, but who knows,” Dulaney said.
Morgantown holds their City Council elections during odd-numbered years in April, with turnouts in the previous two elections reaching 15 percent and 8.8 percent respectively.
“I think it would have carried if we were willing to change the date,” Mayor Bill Kawecki said Tuesday night. “But I don’t think we had any type of consensus as to what the date should be.”
Dulaney supported moving the date to either May to coincide with county elections or November to coincide with state and federal elections, but that version of the ordinance died earlier this month.
“I can appreciate the fact that when it stands alone, there likely is more attention on the election and on the local issues,” Dulaney said. “At the same time though, I think that in a democracy if we have the opportunity to expand on voter participation then we should do that.”
The primary debate centered around the aforementioned issues of date and term length, but separate issues were raised about how many council members were up for re-election at the same time. Under current law, the entire council runs for re-election simultaneously every two years.
“I think with a two year term, there really isn’t that opportunity for follow through or even accountability, and I think extending the terms would provide that,” Dulaney said.
That wasn’t enough for Dulaney, but it was for Kawecki — citing additional focus on the issues specific to the City of Morgantown.
“I still think the very arguments I made (Tuesday), the idea of having the April elections, that’s just a better time,” he said. “That’s focus on the city, and I think that’s important. City issues not diluted by any other circumstances or situations.”