How We See It: Limits On Special Elections May Not Be Cure Public Needs

Every odd year, the Arkansas General Assembly convenes in Little Rock for a full-fledged legislative session. We don't mean it's odd because they do that, although one could make an argument. Perhaps "odd-numbered" year would be more accurate.

That, naturally, means every even-numbered year contains a heavy dose of governmental bodies, public interests, special interests and self-interests gathering to develop suggestions for what the 135 legislators we send to the state Capitol ought to put into the law books. The Legislature also meets in even-numbered years, but that session is intended only for fiscal matters, keeping the financial house in order, so to speak.

But during those odd years, everything is on the table. If a lawmaker wants to propose making Pharrell Williams' "Happy" the state song, he could write it up and try to get enough support for it. Hey, we've got four state songs, so why not?

Of course, various interests also suggest substantive ways to change how government works in Arkansas. Among the most recent suggestion emanating from Benton County is this: Limit the number of special elections that can be held within a calendar year.

That might make some people, well, happy.

The Benton County Quorum Court's Legislative Committee has included such a proposal in its legislative push for 2015. They want to limit special elections to no more than two days a year.

Some public officials in Benton County have long looked at elections as expenses, not opportunities to hear from the public they serve. The costs associated with special elections are treated as burrs under the saddle. The concerns ring hollow: If there was ever a legitimate expense for government, it's elections to promote the public's involvement in deciding future direction. It's troubling to hear public officials talking about elections as though they are something to be contained.

We're not convinced. Consider how many governmental entities are there in Benton County? One county, nearly two dozen cities, seven school districts, and nearly two dozen fire service districts. It's reasonable to expect the many entities to have occasion to gauge public opinion about important matters, but most of those involve different sets of voters. So who is really having problems with "too many" elections?

Benton County officials seem to like the idea because limiting elections simplifies things and might keep costs in check. But is it the Quorum Court's role to dictate when cities or school districts or any other entity should be able to ask their patrons a ballot question?

Fact of the matter is elections can be combined through political leadership. It doesn't require legislation affecting every county, city or school district in Arkansas for the leaders of different government entities to get together and plan their special elections for the same day. Why establish an arbitrary and artificial means of limiting the public's voice?

But people get to ask the state Legislature to do all sorts of things in those odd years. If public involvement -- timed as their elected representatives see fit -- is to be limited, supporters of the idea need to develop a stronger argument than how elections can cost money and can be darned inconvenient.

Democracy is inherently inefficient sometimes. To keep the public involved, one has to accept the idea that efficiency isn't the ultimate goal.