Was the $22,000 election worth it? Ask again in November.
The council spent $22,000 to hold an election with one candidate. The write-in window is the reason the money was well spent.
PALM SPRINGS: The City Council spent $22,000 to hold a November election for a council seat with exactly one candidate. On its face, that sounds like the punchline to a joke about government waste. It is not. It may be the best $22,000 the city spends this year.
The facts: Councilmember Jeffrey Bernstein was the only candidate to file for the District 2 seat before the August 7 deadline. State law allowed the council to appoint him to another term and cancel the election. Instead, the council voted 3-1, with Bernstein abstaining, to hold it, with Mayor Naomi Soto dissenting on cost grounds.
Soto's objection deserves respect. Twenty-two thousand dollars is real money, and a council that waves away costs because they are small will soon wave away costs that are not. Fiscal prudence is a virtue, and the mayor was practicing it.
The $22,000 did not buy an election with one candidate. It bought the chance of an election with two.
It is worth noting what the $22,000 figure actually represents. City Clerk Brenda Pree told the council it is the county's estimated extra cost of running the race: the price of keeping the machinery of democracy, ballots printed, mailed, collected and counted, available to District 2 voters. There is no cheaper way to run an election that meets the county's standards.
The write-in window
But here is what the $22,000 actually purchased: a write-in candidate window, open September 7 through October 20, during which any qualified District 2 resident can still enter the race. Cancel the election and that window never opens. Hold it, and the voters might yet get a choice.
There is precedent for the council's choice. In 2020, when Lisa Middleton ran unopposed for District 5, the council also voted to hold the election rather than appoint her. The principle is consistent: the ballot belongs to the voters, not to the council's budget spreadsheet.
The deeper question is whether uncontested races are a problem to solve or a reality to accept. District elections, with their smaller voter pools and lower profiles, will regularly produce single-candidate races. If the council canceled every uncontested election, appointments would become the norm and elections the exception. The August vote drew a line: in Palm Springs, the default is that voters decide, even when the decision looks foregone.
Was it worth it? Ask again in November. If a write-in candidate qualifies and District 2 voters get a real contest, the $22,000 will look like a bargain. If not, the city bought something still valuable: proof that the right to vote is not contingent on the council finding it cost-effective.
None to date. The Tribune corrects errors promptly and transparently. Read our corrections policy.
