09/04/14: Election season begins

This op-ed appeared in The Virginian-Pilot on the date shown.

LABOR DAY marks the traditional start of campaign season.

These days, that means the barrage of ads intensifies. There is never a lull in Virginia, primarily due to its off-year state elections, but also because of its never-ending special elections.

While a political junkie’s dream, Virginia is a voter’s nightmare, no doubt the reason voter participation rates are so low.

Nevertheless, it is almost impossible to ignore the fall season. There are a couple of things to watch for.

The first is who is paying for the advertising.

In the olden days, ads for federal candidates were paid for by the candidates, with their party committees paying for the rest. That’s no longer the case. The bulk of the advertising is coming from third-party groups, unaffiliated with and unapproved by the candidate.

We are all familiar with the standard “I approve this message” that appears in candidate-sponsored and/or coordinated ads. Federal law requires it under the “Stand By Your Ad” provision. (Virginia has a similar statute for state and local candidates.) There are penalties if the statement — or something similar — is omitted.

On the other hand, ads from third-party groups independent of the candidate will carry no such statement. By definition, these ads cannot be coordinated with a candidate or campaign.

Often, the ads are designed to benefit one candidate while denigrating the other. If negative ads didn’t work, no one would make them, but that’s a topic for another day. For now, just listen carefully to discern who is behind the ad.

While the noise from the federal races may dominate, don’t forget that there are local elections as well. Voters in Portsmouth, Suffolk and Virginia Beach will take to the polls to choose council and school board members. Norfolk voters will determine whether their School Board should be an elected body and perhaps will decide the fate of Talbot Hall.

It will be much more difficult to keep up with the local contests. The candidates — over 60 of your neighbors and friends — will have fewer resources than their federal counterparts. I’d be surprised if most managed to send a couple of pieces of mail. The likelihood of television or radio ads is remote.

Voters will have to pay attention to civic league notices of candidate appearances, social media postings of upcoming forums, and announcements in the newspaper. Most of the candidates have websites, where voters can learn of their positions and sign up for email notifications.

With superior resources, federal campaigns are literally pushed to voters. Local campaigns are the opposite — voters have to pull the information that they want.

Being a Virginia voter is nearly like having a part-time job, with our never-ending election season. Our democracy, though, depends on it.