The City of Charlottesville lost its competition with Falls Church, Va., to see which city would have a higher percentage of registered voters go to the polls Tuesday. For its decisive 80 percent to 66 percent voter turnout rate victory against Charlottesville, the Northern Virginia city received a bust of Thomas Jefferson.
Jackie Harris, voter outreach coordinator for the City of Charlottesville, explained that Falls Church was chosen as Charlottesville’s competitor in an attempt to unseat Falls Church from its position as the Virginia city with the highest voter turnout rate.
“We were looking around at the most recent presidential election and we saw that Falls Church had the highest turnout ... and Charlottesville always wants to be number one,” Harris said when explaining the city’s motivation to pursue the challenge.
In addition, Harris noted that the competition provided a “fun way” of reinforcing the many grassroots efforts to increase voter turnout and registration. If Charlottesville had beaten Falls Church, the city would have received a sassafras sapling wagered before Election Day.
This year’s voter turnout percentage in both cities was not significantly different from the 2004 election, she said, but the cities both saw an overall increase in both voter registration and voter turnout.
In explaining her city’s success in the friendly competition, Falls Church General Registrar Debbie Taylor noted that her city has both a small population of about 10,000 that makes differences in voter turnout more noticeable and a relatively high level of political interest because of the city’s proximity to and relationship with Washington, D.C.
Harris noted that the smaller community of Falls Church regularly manages to produce a voter turnout rate five to 10 percentage points higher than Charlottesville’s voter turnout rate.
Even though Charlottesville lost, Mayor Dave Norris said he believes the competition was a success overall. While he noted that it would be difficult to measure the actual impact of the rivalry, Norris said Charlottesville ultimately had “thousands more” people at the polls this year than in the 2004 election.
“It was all in good fun,” Norris said. “The mayor of Falls Church was eager to put [its] reputation on the line, and this time they came out ahead, but next time will be sweet revenge.”
In keeping with this spirit of friendly rivalry, Taylor joked that Charlottesville may have reservations about challenging Falls Church in the future.
“I would say that’s completely up to the losers,” Taylor said of the possibility of a voter turnout rematch between the two cities. “If you want to lick your wounds and come back, that’d be fine with us.”
While Norris noted that he does not plan to be the city’s mayor in 2012 and would thus not be able to arrange another competition, he said he believes that continuing to challenge a competitive community such as Falls Church, with its ability to easily mobilize voters, would be beneficial to Charlottesville.
“I think it’s good for Charlottesville to raise the bar and try to get more citizens involved in the democratic process,” Norris said. “I’m out 60 bucks for a bust of Jefferson, but ... that’s a small price to pay.”
Read More
Winsome Earle-Sears talks higher education in first U.Va. event of the campaign
By Ford McCracken | 9 hours agoA Jamaican immigrant and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Earle-Sears is the first female lieutenant governor of Virginia,
U.Va.'s Earth Day Eco-Fair 2025 spotlights sustainability advocacy
By Leigh Bailey | 9 hours agoStudents from Contracted Independent Organizations and University Office of Sustainability leadership programs each shared their unique perspectives about sustainability advocacy on Grounds.
Student Council votes to relocate Hereford orchard and basketball hoop
By Lauren Seeliger | 19 hours agoStudent Council passed a resolution Tuesday to relocate the orchard and basketball hoop of Hereford Residential College due to construction in the surrounding area.
