POLL: Should Political Parties Stay Off the Ballot?
Sen. Chap Petersen speaks out against change he says would hurt Fairfax, other localities
Candidates running for office in Fairfax City and County will continue to appear without a party affiliation next to their names on local ballots.
Virginia's senate voted 25-14 against a bill by Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) that would have required candidates nominated by a party to identify with that party on Election Day ballots.
Virginia law enforces ballot party tags for candidates running only in statewide, federal or General Assembly races. The Fairfax County School Board, by law, must be a non-partisan race,
Ballots for local races — including those for Fairfax City Council and Fairfax County Board of Supervisors — are party-free.
"Non-partisan elections are part of their culture and the citizens like it that way. There is no request to change the law," said Sen. Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax), who represents Fairfax City.
It's not the first time the bill has appeared before the Senate: It was also introduced in 2011, largely touted as an effort to take partisan politics out of local races. This year, it passed committee on an 8-7 vote but couldn't carry enough support to pass the full body.
This year's bill, Obenshain said, wasn't about ending nonpartisan offices or elections, but about "pretending that a party nominee’s partisan affiliation isn’t meaningful information and isn’t worth sharing with the voters," he told the Washington Post.
CRBABC123
12:33 pm on Thursday, February 2, 2012
Although voters should know specifics about the view of who they are voting for (and not), information re party affilation is easily communicated as evidenced by the practice for other government bodies. A culture of voting on the basis of less information is not one that should be encouraged.
Bill McAllister
8:44 am on Friday, February 3, 2012
Greatly disappointed in our state senator's opposition to a step that would help move Virginia away from this Byrd era policy that has weakened political parties in our state. It used to be the GOP that opposed this progressive step!
Edward Faggen
9:16 am on Friday, February 3, 2012
The political parties foster the partisianship that plagues the entire nation and undermines our governmental leaders' abilitiy to work together. We can find out what we need to know about a candidate without hamstringing him or her ( and ourselves) with party labels, particularly in local elections like the City of Fairfax. Our state senator was right to oppose the change.
Shannon Duffy Daniels
10:16 am on Monday, February 6, 2012
Constituents should be informed with the resources available. Richmond, you have bigger fish to fry.