PORTSMOUTH — A proposal to conduct a special election to ask voters if they wanted Portsmouth to switch to nonpartisan elections for town council and school committee candidates was floated at Monday night’s council meeting, but no action was taken.

In a nonpartisan election, all candidates are listed on the ballot without the party labels with which the candidates are affiliated or by which they were nominated. 

Council member Mary McDowell said she put request on the agenda not for an official vote at this time, but rather to begin to discuss the issue — to give citizens and council members “something to chew on.”

Newport, Tiverton and Middletown all instituted nonpartisan elections, McDowell said, partly because they realized federal employees couldn’t run for office otherwise. Think of all the expertise and talent voters are losing out on in Portsmouth, she said.

Nonpartisan elections also force elected officials to look at the town’s issues “from an objective position, rather than a party position.” 

She also pointed out that the Charter Review Committee (CRC), in 2020, voted in favor of nonpartisan elections for school committee members, but the town council voted to not put that question on the ballot. “That is a concern for me,” she said. 

Registrar of Voters Jacqueline Shultz replied the CRC is only an advisory board, and that the council makes the final decision on what questions appear on a ballot. In any event, if the school committee election were nonpartisan, it would require a separate ballot, she said.

“That’s a learning curve,” said Schultz, who urged the council to proceed with care as switching over to nonpartisan elections may be more complicated than many people realize. 

For example, some communities with nonpartisan elections still hold primaries, she said, while others don’t. That’s one of the reasons the town calls on the CRC for advice on the matter, she said, because it takes time and a great deal of thought.

If voters approved nonpartisan elections during a special election this November, for example, the town would have just over six months to prepare for the big change, since candidates declare in June 2026.

Nancy Zitka, who chairs the town’s Board of Canvassers and has been involved in 12 elections, agreed. “There is a huge learning curve. We need to learn all about this,” she said.

Holding a special election will also be expensive, Schultz said — anywhere from $25,000 to $35,000 — and turnout is historically much lower compared to general elections. Turnout for recent special elections in Portsmouth has ranged from under 13 percent to a little over 24 percent, she said. It makes more sense to put the nonpartisan question on a general election ballot, Schultz said.

Zitka added if only 2,300 out of 14,000 registered voters show up for a special election, “we’re not being fair to our community.”

Public comment

Scott Boyd of Kensington Avenue was one of several citizens who chimed in. He said partisan elections are “stupid” because people who work for the federal government can’t run for office. “You can still have a lawn sign that says you’re a Republican,” he pointed out.

Partisan elections have been used to limit Republican representation on the council, and Democrats use them to their advantage, said Boyd. (The current council is made up of four Republicans, two Democrats, and one independent, although the previous panel was controlled by Democrats.)

However, Boyd said he didn’t see any urgency to change things now since that’s the way it’s always been. Any question about nonpartisan elections should be on a regular election ballot in order to assure a higher turnout, Boyd said.

Jim Seveney, a former council member and state senator, agreed. “Nothing’s burning,” he said.

The matter should go back to the CRC for more review, said Seveney, who served as a Democrat and added he didn’t like the idea of taking information away from voters in the ballot box.

Leonard Katzman, who served on the previous council but resigned in May 2024 to care for his wife, needled McDowell over another complaint she made: It wasn’t fair that as an independent candidate, she had to be listed at the bottom of the ballot.

“What are you even talking about? You were elected!” Katzman said in a raised voice.

Katzman, a Democrat, said numerous studies have shown that nonpartisan elections decrease voter participation. Additionally, the Portsmouth Town Council race draws more candidates than those who run for comparable seats in nearby communities with nonpartisan elections, he said.

Specials elections have “abysmal turnouts,” and a rush to call one to change the town charter “reeks of nefarious intent,” said Katzman.

‘Slap in the face’

In a letter to the council, John McDaid of Gormley Avenue urged the council to reject McDowell’s proposal, saying it was a “back-door effort” and a “slap in the face” to anyone who served on the CRC, as he did.

“The Charter Review Committee — the body given authority by the Town Charter to amend the Charter — discussed this proposal, gave it considerable thought, and while there were multiple points of view, ultimately voted not to go down this path,” McDaid stated in his letter.

The council voted unanimously to table the matter for a later date.