State Sen. Jim Holperin (D-Eagle River) said today he has co-sponsored legislation to eliminate the February primary and April general elections.

“People want government to be more efficient,” Holperin said.  “Here’s an opportunity to save property taxpayer dollars without reducing any service that local governments provide.”

The spring election is held for all nonpartisan elective offices, including state level positions like supreme court and superintendent of public instruction, county level posts like circuit court judge and county supervisor, city jobs like mayor and council member, town slots like chairman and supervisor, and various other nonpartisan offices like school board.

“One main problem with spring elections is that not many people go to vote,” Holperin stated. “You may get a high local turnout if there’s a hotly contested race for town supervisor or school board, but on average less than 20 percent of eligible voters go to the polls in April. The turnout is even worse for February primaries.”

Yet, said Holperin, election notices and sample ballots need to be paid for, poll workers always need to be trained and compensated, and the polls always have to be open and fully staffed no matter how few voters show up. “Think of the savings if none of this were necessary,” he added.

Elections for nonpartisan offices would still need to be held, Holperin acknowledged, and said that holding them at the regularly scheduled November elections would make the most sense.

“I can’t think of too many drawbacks to this alternative, but there might be some,” Holperin conceded. “For example, municipal budgets are typically crafted in the fall, so there might be some opposition to having city and town officials on the ballot in the middle of budget time.”

Otherwise, he said, it’s pure cost savings without losing any local services. “I’m interested in learning voters’ opinions on this plan,” Holperin said. “The change requires amending the state constitution, so people would get a chance to vote on the proposal at some point, but legislative approval is the first step.”

He concluded, “Think it over. Let me know. I’m especially interested in hearing of any really compelling reasons why we shouldn’t save local governments considerable taxpayer dollars by eliminating the spring elections."