A move is afoot in Virginia to get rid of off-year elections, holding all local and state elections on the same year as the federal presidential and midterm election years. A committee in the General Assembly is weighing the options. Almost all states elect their governors, state legislatures and many local office holders on the same even-numbered years as all Americans elect the president and members of Congress. Only five states—Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia—elect their respective governors to four-year terms during off-year elections. Supporters of such a move point to the potential cost savings of “streamlining” the elections to even-number years only, as well as increasing voter turnout for local and state races, since turnout tends to spike on the years when either the president is on the ballot or the midterm elections, which are often viewed as a referendum on the presidency. The problem with that is a national election on each ballot will overshadow...