By Thomas Wells
Mr. Wells is a Coral Gables resident, a former member of the city’s Charter Review Committee and was a Commission candidate last year.

After attempting to unilaterally change our municipal Charter without elector vote which the Third District Court of Appeal unanimously held unconstitutional for the City of Miami, Mayor Lago, Vice Mayor Anderson and Commissioner Lara pivoted and approved a referendum seeking to amend the Coral Gables Charter to change the date of general and runoff elections for the Mayor and Commissioners from April of odd years to November and December of even years. If this referendum receives majority elector approval, the general election will be bundled with national and state elections. However, the runoff election will be in early December – 4 weeks after the general election. It will not be held in conjunction with any other election and will cost the same as the April 2025 runoff election (approximately $125,000). There is no data supporting any increased voter turnout in a December runoff election. If applicable, the runoff election (and not the general election) determines who is elected.

Coral Gables is sharply divided over this issue. The Coral Gables Gazette published a story on June 9, 2025, with information from a poll of 1,170 Gazette readers that (a) 50.7% supported moving the elections to November, (b) 47.9% wanted elections to remain in April and (c) 1.3% were unsure or had no opinion. There are arguments supporting both positions.

Advocates of moving the election to November claim that it increases voter turnout and saves money. The turnout in the April 2025 general election for Coral Gables Mayor was 10,126 (29.6%) and 7,874 (23.1%) for the Group III Commissioner runoff election (in which I was a candidate), the highest percentage turnout in the last 10 years for each election. The turnout in Coral Gables for the November, 2024 Presidential election was 28,106 (82.2%) and the November, 2022 Gubernatorial election was 18,549 (54.3%). There were local elections in November, 2024 that did not gather as many votes. For example, despite an overall voting turnout of 72.4% in Miami-Dade County for the November, 2024 Presidential election, the North Miami Mayor race had 19,652 votes (61.8%) cast in the November, 2024 general election and 5,711 votes (18%) cast in the December runoff election. Combining a local election with a Presidential election does not guarantee the same turnout in each election nor does it have any effect on a runoff election.

As to cost savings, Coral Gables Ordinance No. 2025-08 stated that a runoff election in December will still cost the same as a runoff election in April. The only anticipated cost savings is $105,000 – the difference between the cost of a general election in April of $125,000 and a general election in November of $20,000. Elections are held every two years. This is an annual savings of $52,500. Coral Gables spent $65,000 on a 10-minute July 4th drone show. With an annual budget of $313.6 million, the additional annual voting cost for April elections is de minimis (0.018% of the annual budget).

There are significant advantages to keeping our local elections in April consistent with our 100 year history. April elections keep the focus on local issues. 53% of New York City voters recently decided to keep their local election in odd years and not combine it with national and state elections held in even years based on the belief that local candidates and local issues deserve focused attention distinct from presidential and gubernatorial elections. Voters were concerned that local candidates would get drowned out by the top of the ticket which would do a serious disservice to local government. When Coral Gables was created in the early 1900s, the National Municipal League encouraged cities to have “off-cycle” elections to insulate municipal politics from the mires of national politics and political machine capture of local elected offices and to increase the influence of informed voters in local elections to aid in accountability.

A November election requires local candidates to raise more money for messaging to compete with messaging from federal, state and county campaigns. This provides a significant advantage to incumbents with greater campaign funds. Mayor Vince Lago has cited to the Election Timing Report prepared by the MIT Election Data and Science Lab (May, 2022) arguing that moving local elections to coincide with national and state elections will increase turnout. That report also references an incumbency advantage obtained by combining local elections with national and state elections because incumbents have (a) name recognition, (b) campaign finance superiority, (c) government resources (e.g., Mayor Lago is holding a town hall meeting about this Charter amendment funded by the City on March 27), (d) preferential media access and (e) constituent service benefits (the Charter Review Committee that was reconstituted by Mayor Lago and his voting pact eliminated a proposed term limit referendum preventing an elected official from serving more than 12 consecutive years). Off-Cycle and Out of Office: Election Timing and the Incumbency Advantage by Justin de Benedictis-Kessner (published in the Journal of Politics in December, 2017), determined that the incumbency advantage increases by 27% when off-cycle elections are bundled with national and state elections. This incumbency advantage increases when the City does nothing to educate and engage voters. Moving elections to November and not taking any action to educate or engage voters allows incumbents to become more entrenched in office, be less accountable to residents and discourage qualified candidates from seeking office.

As to campaigning, an April election allows for canvassing during the Farmer’s Market where our community comes together. Moving elections to November would eliminate that community engagement. It would also result in canvassing during hurricane season for a November general election and during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays for a December runoff election interfering with family time. We do not have these issues with an April election.

With an April election, the campaign process is less partisan. During the April 2025 campaign, some residents asked me if I was Republican or Democrat which I could generally deflect by being a U.S. Army veteran. However, it will be more difficult to remain nonpartisan with local elections held contemporaneously with partisan national and state elections and people voting based on party affiliation. We should be concerned about bringing our community together and preserving our quality of life by stopping incompatible developments with excessive traffic and density that lack increased infrastructure. Health insurance, global warming, gun control and a mother’s right to make decisions as to her body are important issues – but not local issues. Moving our local elections to November will bring these issues into our local election.

The date on which we vote ignores the most important issue – educating and engaging voters to vote. We all want MORE INFORMED VOTERS. To encourage this, the City should (i) host a forum and/or town hall meeting for candidates, (ii) allow candidates to purchase a booth at the Farmer’s Market to educate voters, (iii) send communications to residents as to when to register to vote, request a vote-by-mail (“VBM”) ballot, and either vote early, on election day and by VBM, (iv) encourage voter registration by residents (we have 50,000 residents but only 34,000 registered voters), (v) have trolleys take people to the library for early voting and depositing VBMs and to the polls on election day and (vi) consolidate poll locations to lower costs but retain the same number of votes. If we bundle our election with national and state elections in November, then the City has a higher burden to educate and engage voters as to local issues. I am hopeful that residents will take time to review these issues and vote in a manner that is best for the future of Coral Gables and not merely for an incumbent campaign advantage.

The Coral Gables Gazette welcomes opinion essays from members of the community. Views expressed are those of the author.