As days run down before a scheduled April 5 special election, students and community activists are working to get word out about a proposal to shorten Ames City Council terms.

One item on the ballot would reduce City Council terms from four years to two, which is the default set by Iowa law.

Four-year terms were enacted in the 1950s.

No other city that has four-year terms has considered going back to the default.

Henry Alliger, Government of the Student Body speaker of the senate, said he was one of about 22 people involved in a canvassing campaign that began Monday. The group aims to gather roughly 3,750 votes in favor of reducing term limits, though Alliger said the number was a rough goal.

According to the Story County Auditor’s office, about 6,000 out of almost 38,000 registered voters cast a ballot in the last Ames special election in December 2003. Alliger said his group expected 7,000 voters in this election, which is roughly 15 percent of the 46,443 registered voters in Ames.

“That would be great [if everyone showed up],” he said. “It’s probably a bit of a reach.”

Alliger said the number of expected voters was based off a special bond election in December 2003. He said he did not think there would be much trouble reaching their goal.

Erv Klaas, chairman of the political action committee Ames Citizens for Better Local Government, said he disagreed with Alliger’s assessment.

“That’s a little high,” Klaas said. “If they can turn out over 3,000 students, I think they can win.”

Klaas pointed out that before the term reduction initiative was put on the ballot, the only issue was a hotel/motel tax increase. In most special elections of that nature, he said, the average turnout is usually about 4,000 voters.

One point of concern for some was that there was little time before the election to campaign. Klaas said the student group should have started earlier, but also said it was doing the best it could with its time since the issue was put on the ballot within the last month.

Alliger said the campaign was pushed back because the GSB election and Spring Break made it difficult to start early. He also said they were worried that students may have been tired of all the different campaigns on campus.

“A lot of people felt the ISU community might be burnt out on politics, and a break would be nice,” he said.

Mansoor Khadir, who is in charge of voter canvassing, said the group had eight to 10 people canvassing the residence halls Monday and Tuesday, making more than 250 contacts on Monday alone. He said he expected to make 2,000 contacts by Sunday. Although most residence halls have prohibitions against soliciting in residence halls, Khadir said his group was able to canvass there because it is only trying to get people to vote, and not in any certain manner.

The group also plans to go off campus Wednesday and during the weekend to recruit members of the Ames community who may not be connected to Iowa State, he said.

Klaas said involving non-ISU community members would be critical to the community since many people do not know about the issues, and some could easily be swayed. He said appealing to divisive issues like the proposed mall or the council’s pedestrian walkway project could make citizens feel more sympathetic to the cause.

On Monday, the Ames Chamber of Commerce endorsed four-year terms because they help preserve long-term planning, said Gary Botine, president of the chamber. Botine said he thought shortening the terms could be detrimental to Ames’ growth because it would cause doubt within the council and potential change every two years.

Councilman Daryle Vegge said many of the people he has talked to are in favor of four-year terms mainly because they would maintain continuity. If terms are shortened, every seat would be up for election in 2007.

He said two-year terms get “pretty narrow” because of the intrinsic nature of the terms. One problem with shortening terms is that many people will spend a large amount of time campaigning instead of governing. Another drawback, he said, is the learning curve attached to being on the council.

Alliger said the idea of a learning curve should not be an issue because members of the U.S. House of Representatives have two-year terms.