Elections supervisor: Keep November ballots clear of local issues | www.mypalmbeachpost.com

For people who have questions about why the Lake Worth 2020 plan ballot issue would be best put on the August primary election date, this article contains a few answers. Click title for link. We are going to have a primary election for the Congressional mid-terms and the ballot will not be as long as the one in November. It's easier for these municipal items not be lost with a large number of items in November. This is the main reason that we moved our regular municipal election back to March after changing it to November. That experiment lasted a few years. Here, the Supervisor of Elections is making a firmer policy about prohibiting municipal issues from appearing on the November ballot. Here is a bit of explanation from the article:

An effort by Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher to streamline November ballots means that local referendum questions will have to wait for March municipal elections, unless cities and towns supply a compelling reason why their issues can’t wait.
Bucher has told clerks for Palm Beach County’s 38 cities and towns that, “unless it’s an emergency,” local questions can either go on the Aug. 26 primary election ballot or will have to wait until March or beyond, and no local questions will be allowed during federal elections.
The Nov. 4 general election is the county’s only chance to put its questions on the ballot and Bucher said she doesn’t want local questions drawing attention from those or contributing to “down-ballot drop-off” — voter inattention caused by overly long ballots.
“When voters see this big sea of words, they don’t vote all of those questions,” she said. “That’s the concern.”