Are Palm Coast elections nonpartisan?

Palm Coast Observer
Opinion

The Palm Coast City Charter states that city elections “shall be conducted on a nonpartisan basis without any designation of political party affiliation.”

Therefore, on the ballot, city candidates’ political affiliations are not listed — but that might be the only way the July 27 mayoral election was “nonpartisan.”

Runner-up Alan Lowe campaigned as a “conservative voice for conservative voters,” using a photo of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in his advertisements, with a somewhat awkward slogan that appears to channel Trump: “Make America Florida.” City Councilman Ed Danko, who wore a “Make America Great Again” ball cap in his campaign head shot in 2020, campaigned heavily for Lowe in 2021, telling supporters that this election “is our last chance to save our city from the dishonest political PACs.”

They’re not the only ones, though, who are focused on their political parties.

Cornelia Manfre, who finished third, congratulated David Alfin for winning and vowed to continue serving the community. Then she added this in her concession statement: “I see this as a loss for Democrats. The vote count shows that at least 1,000 Democrats did not vote for one of the two Democrats running. We have to do better, and we will do better.”

I was struck by that statement for two reasons. First, after running for office twice in less than a year, Manfre seems to have risen quickly as a leader in her party. Second, I thought this was a nonpartisan election?

Janet Sullivan, chairwoman for the Flagler County Democratic Party, sent out an email to Democrats before the election, asking for volunteers to call Democrats who hadn’t yet voted. Sounds like a great strategy for a partisan election.

I asked Mayor David Alfin, who was often accused in the campaign of being a "Republican in name only," whether he thought candidates should be identified by party on the ballot.

If the result of such a change would be to reduce the “nastiness” of an election, “I would be OK with that,” he said. The rancor “doesn’t help our city.”

It seems to me that election nastiness actually increases the more partisan an election becomes. Imagine if we didn’t know anybody’s party in any election, and we decided we would get to know candidates’ thoughts on each individual issue before deciding whom to support.

Email Brian McMillan at [email protected].