For UR students, mayor's race is that other election to remember

The 2008 presidential race isn't the only Nov. 4 election students registered to vote in Richmond will help decide. They'll also be voting for the city's new mayor under a new voting system.

The winner will replace outgoing mayor L. Douglas Wilder, who was elected governor of Virginia in 1989 before serving as Richmond's mayor, and in the process became the first black person in the country elected to the position. Wilder has decided not to seek re-election with his approval ratings at dismally low levels.

John Moeser, a senior fellow at the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement and professor emeritus of urban studies and planning at Virginia Commonwealth University, spoke to about 60 people in the Brown-Alley Room on Friday about the mayoral candidates and the new voting system.

The five men running for mayor -- Robert Grey, 58; Lawrence Williams, 55; Paul Goldman, 62; The Rev. Dwight Jones, 60; and Bill Pantele, 49 -- will spar during a debate at the University of Richmond at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Alice Haynes Room.

In analyzing the race, Moeser said the two candidates likely to contend for the mayoral seat were Jones and Pantele. He said Jones, an African-American, is likely to win the districts with more black voters and Pantele, who is white, the districts with more white voters.

The University of Richmond is located in the city's first district, an area composed of mostly upper-class white voters that Goldman is expected to carry, Moeser said. The third district, made up of the north side of Richmond, and fifth district, made up of central Richmond, could go for Jones or Pantele.

Under the new voting system Moeser helped develop, a candidate must win at least five out of the nine Richmond districts to become mayor. Before the change, Richmond's mayors were elected by a popular voting system. But the new system leaves the possibility that the candidate who wins doesn't have the most votes citywide. Still, Moeser said that outcome was unlikely.

Voting in Richmond had been greatly affected by race and class demographics, Moeser said. While upper-class people in the city still tend to be white and lower-class people still tend to be black, Moeser said the new voting system would help bridge the gap between whites and blacks, and rich and poor people. He says each candidate must appeal to voters in every district instead of focusing on a few districts, and consequently a select group of voters.

When the old voting system was in place in 2000, white voter turnout of the first and fourth districts was almost equal to the entire black turnout, according to an election analysis Moeser completed.

Local elections -- including the mayoral one -- are important because the decisions and laws the mayor make affect the everyday lives of citizens, Moeser said. Local government runs, maintains and funds basic infrastructure, including water, roads, the fire and police departments, sidewalks, jails and public housing, among other services.

Contact staff writer Stephanie Rice at stephanie.rice@richmond.edu