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Springfield Moves Preliminary Election To September 8

Municipalities have been wrestling with when to hold preliminary elections to avoid conflicts with Jewish holy days that fall on three consecutive Tuesdays in September.  The largest city in western Massachusetts will hold its preliminary election a week earlier than originally scheduled.

The Springfield City Council, at a special meeting Monday night, voted to set September 8th as the day for the city’s preliminary election despite concerns voiced by some councilors that the date – the day after Labor Day – would hurt voter turnout and be unfair to the new candidates running for mayor who will now have less time to campaign.

"Tonight we were presented with no good options, but we chose the best one," said Springfield City Council President Michael Fenton.

Fenton said moving the preliminary election to October or to a Thursday – options that were debated by the council at Monday night’s meeting – would be too “atypical.”

"To give the most voters the most chance to participate while also being respectful of religious holidays of significance I felt, and a majority of my colleagues felt, the best bad option in front of us was Sept. 8," said Fenton.

This year the Jewish observance of Rosh Hashanah falls on Sept. 15th. Yom Kippur begins at sundown on September 22nd.

A September 15th preliminary had long been on the city’s 2015 municipal election calendar, but state election officials recently advised communities to consider new dates for preliminary elections that conflicted with Jewish holy days, according to Springfield Election Commissioner Gladys Oyola.

" We ( initially) chose the 15th as the date to keep it consistent with other election years," she said.

Oyola recommended rescheduling the preliminary election to Sept. 8. She said her office will immediately begin to publicize the new date.

" I honestly think with all this media attention surrounding the change in election dates it is going to help boost the turnout," said Oyola.

Springfield’s preliminary election features only one contest – six candidates are on the ballot for mayor with the top two vote getters on Sept. 8th advancing to ballot for the Nov. 3rd election.

Some councilors said they were concerned that cutting the campaign by a week would help the incumbent, Mayor Domenic Sarno.  The other five candidates have never held elected office.

Before voting 8-2 to set Sept. 8 as the day of the preliminary election the council voted 6-4 against holding the preliminary on Oct. 6th, the date proposed in a motion by Councilor Henry Twiggs.

Councilor Tim Allen proposed moving the preliminary election to Sept. 17, a Thursday, but later withdrew his motion before it came up for a vote.

Of the six candidates for mayor on the preliminary election ballot only one publicly advocated for a date for the preliminary election.  Johnnie Ray McKnight called for rescheduling the preliminary vote to Oct. 6.

" I think it is absurd to push it up a week and not extend the time to increase the voter turnout," he said.

Arise for Social Justice, the Springfield-based organization that advocates for the poor, opposed moving the preliminary to Sept. 8th.  The organization’s director, Michaelann Bewsee, said cutting a week from the campaign is unfair to the new candidates.

West Springfield and Chicopee have both moved the preliminary elections to Sept. 8th   Holyoke is still planning to hold the preliminary on Sept. 22nd.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.
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