After a dozen years covering the protracted battle for ward representation in Springfield—the relentless work by reformers, the infuriatingly evasive tactics employed by city councilors determined to kill the effort, the plan's eventual 3-to-1 victory on the ballot—I had high hopes for a lively election season this fall.
I hoped for a swarm of quality candidates jumping to compete for the eight new ward seats. I hoped for a burst of electoral energy—candidates' forums and debates and old-fashioned door-to-door campaigning—in those parts of the city that have typically been disconnected from the business of City Hall. I hoped to see voters flock to the polls, eager to exercise their new power to elect councilors and School Committee members directly from their own communities.
My wishes, alas, have not all come true. Not that they've been completely denied: strong candidates have tossed their names in the ring for ward seats. And there has been neighborhood activity in advance of the election, with community groups holding candidates' nights and motivated candidates taking the opportunity to meet their would-be constituents.
Granted, the field of candidates hasn't been as deep and rich as might be hoped for, and the pre-election buzz not as loud, at least not across all wards. But the biggest disappointment so far was the sad level of voter turnout for last Tuesday's preliminary, where voters had the chance to whittle the field of candidates to two in five Council wards and two School Committee districts, in advance of the Nov. 3 general election.
Just 6,340 of the city's 66,770 eligible voters—9.5 percent—cast ballots that day. And turnout varied greatly from ward to ward, with those neighborhoods that have historically been more politically engaged posting dramatically higher numbers—from a high of 1,683 voters in Ward 7 (which includes East Forest Park and Sixteen Acres) to a low of 684 in Ward 8 (Indian Orchard, Pine Point and the Boston Road area).
Voter turnout, election watchers will note, is rarely high in preliminaries. In Chicopee, only 13 percent of eligible voters showed up to narrow the field for a City Council ward seat, the only item on that city's preliminary ballot. In Northampton, 21 percent of voters cast ballots—a respectable enough number considering that the highest-profile race that day, narrowing the mayoral field from three to two candidates, generated limited suspense, with Mayor Clare Higgins and City Councilor Michael Bardsley all but guaranteed to win the top two spots. (The real question that day was whether Bardsley could make a strong showing against incumbent Higgins. He did, winning 55 percent of the votes to Higgins' 43 percent.)
In that context, the low turnout in Springfield on preliminary day seems a little less shocking. And there's another context to consider, one unique to Springfield: proponents of ward rep have long argued that the system was needed to undo an entrenched imbalance in city government created by the all at-large system, which favored candidates with the money and name recognition to launch city-wide campaigns over less affluent and less connected candidates (and, as a quick look at those who've served on the Council over the years proves, non-white and non-male candidates). The at-large system, they argued, left large portions of the city feeling unrepresented, and therefore less engaged in city government. It's no surprise, really, that it might take more than a single preliminary election to undo that history.
Opponents of ward representation (city councilor Tim Rooke among them) point to Tuesday's dismal voting figures as evidence that the new system is not living up to the promises of its backers, that even with the reform too many voters just couldn't be bothered to take 10 minutes to vote for the people who will lead their city. I wish I had a clever response to those charges, but I don't. Springfield's electorate does not always serve as a model of smart decision-making—just look at some of the corrupt, arrogant and generally unqualified candidates it's elected in the past. All I can do it hope that, come Nov. 3, a lot more voters step up to claim the opportunity ward representation offers.
