I'd be interested in pulling data to see how 2001 compares to other years further back. My memory of 2001 is that it was extraordinary. This was the race between Anne Ferguson, who had been mayor for many years, and MIke Herman, who was on council for many years. They both had deep people networks, both ran hard, and there was high emotion/energy that gets people out to the polls. Also, Mike loves politics and campaigns like nobody's business, and Anne is no slouch either in that department. It made for a very big turn out.

And I think we all remember how energetic the 2005 mayor's race was, coming on the heels of the Field of Dreams referendum. There was a huge amount of effort put into that campaign and voters were recently activated by the referendum.

I'm encouraged by the number of relatively new residents that are taking an active role in town. Our rec board volunteers did an awesome job at Riverdale Day, and nearly all of them moved into town post 2000. Our farmer's market continues to grow and has new volunteer leadership. At least half of the people I saw at the economic development presentation the other night were residents that moved into town in the last 4 years. Attendance in events like the farmer's market is growing. So to me, that signals that residents are not generally apathetic.

I think cultivating greater volunteer participation is the best way to ensure that we have plenty of good candidates willing to serve when election time rolls around. We need to build a broad pool of talent and leadership for our community - from the elected government to PTA, Rec Board, RBA, etc.

- Alice

Seems Takoma Park has the same affliction -- only worse
I caught this in the Post the other day; what I'm pasting here (below) is the blog version of the same article, available at: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/rawfisher/2007/10/post_4.html
And, in my discussion with Chris Condoyan (Hyattsville H4X) which may be heard on their podcast Episode 51, it came up that Hyattsville's voter turnout appears to be lower than Riverdale Park's. So maybe we're not doing that bad here in RP -- comparatively speaking. I guess I take some comfort in that. --Dwight 10/31/07
P.S. Alice -- I'd love to run those numbers from elections from earlier years; just need the data!

Dormant Democracy: What, No Candidates? Even in Takoma Park?
In the annals of our long, depressing slide into dormant democracy, this is a story I would not have predicted. Even in hyper-political Takoma Park--the lefty enclave in suburban Maryland that dives merrily into almost every divisive issue to come down the pike--they're holding an election this fall and hardly anybody bothered to run against the incumbents. When the deadline for filing to run for mayor or city council passed, only one person in the entire town of 17,000 souls stepped forward to mount a challenge.

The mayor and five of the six ward council members will be elected in uncontested votes. I've had a bee in my bonnet for some years now about the growing problem of voters having no choice in congressional and local elections (a piece I wrote about the about the time when 18 or Florida's 23 members of Congress won reelection with no opposition is on the jump.) This has been a problem in many parts of the country, and especially in Virginia's legislature, where, two years ago, 50 of the 100 House of Delegates seats were filled in uncontested elections. But I wouldn't have expected to see dormant democracy becoming a problem in Takoma Park, where the desire to take strong stands is somehow infused in the water. After all, this is the town that famously declared itself a nuclear-free zone many years ago and has regularly found other ways to confront the rest of the nation with its political messages. Most recently, this summer, the city council voted unanimously to support impeaching President Bush and Vice President Cheney. This is a place where, if I'm counting correctly, there are more political blogs and papers per square foot than any other spot in Maryland. (It also sports one of the most-aptly named political blogs in the region: Granola Park.) So, why the dormancy? Is it because Takoma Park residents are thrilled beyond words with their representatives? True, crime is down 10 percent. And there are some excellent people on the council. But there's no shortage of local controversies; Takoma residents are divided on the Inter-County Connector, Silver Spring development, the future and possible path of Metro's Purple Line, whether proposed development around the Takoma Metro station is too car-oriented or too dense, and smaller stuff, too, such as cost overruns on a community center project. An irony here involves Takoma Park's decision to become the first jurisdiction in the Washington area to adopt instant runoff voting, a system in which voters don't just choose a winner, but instead rank candidates so that their second and third choices can be counted if no candidate wins a majority of votes. But when the system was first used in a special election earlier this year, the instant runoff option didn't kick in because the winner won a majority. This fall, again, the newfangled system will lie dormant--runoffs can only happen if there are three or more candidates for a position. The only contested race in next week's election pits Bridget Bowers against Dan Robinson for the one open seat on the council (Ward 3 council member Bruce Williams will move up to mayor, unopposed.) In a classic case of Takoma Park comity, the opponents are jointly sponsoring a listserv where residents can discuss the campaign. Such admirable cooperation. Now, how about a little competition?