I’m conflicted about concerns that an expected mayoral runoff election would fall on the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah this fall. The Tennessean’s Gail Kerr calls the situation a “mess” and calls out Mayor Bill Purcell for not doing anything about it:

From February until his plane leaves today [for China], the mayor could’ve issued an executive order changing the runoff. With the election commission’s cooperation and no legal challenge (and who would challenge it?), it would have stuck. He could have asked the state legislature to create a law superseding Metro’s charter on years when a religious holiday and an Election Day conflict. But he didn’t do anything.

I agree with Kerr and others quoted in the article that holding the election on this major holiday is a mistake. It isn’t respectful toward the city’s significant Jewish population and, as Kerr observes, we would never schedule an election on Christmas or Easter.

At the same time, I think Kerr overstates how Jewish voters will be “disenfranchised” and unable to vote. I sincerely hope the city will change the runoff election date, but voters of any faith or philosophical calling should vote early if any election day falls on any date that is not suitable for them. Let’s change the date, but let’s also look for ways to encourage more people throughout the city to take their participation in democracy seriously enough to take part one way or another, regardless of flawed scheduling decisions.