Government and politics

Tallahassee has traditionally been a Democratic city, and is one of the few cities in the South known for progressive activism. It has had a black mayor and black state representative.^[31] The city has voted Democratic throughout its history with a high voter-turnout. As of April 2007, there were 85,343 Democrats and 42,230 Republicans in Leon County. Other affiliations accounted for 22,284 voters.
Ion Sancho is the supervisor of elections for Leon County, Florida. Serving since January 1989, he has been reelected to five additional terms. One of only three (out of 67) supervisors of elections in Florida without party affiliation, under his administration Leon County's voter turnout percentage has consistently ranked among the highest of Florida's 67 counties, with a record setting 86% turnout in the November 2008 general election.^[32]

A map of Florida's Second Congressional District

A map of Florida's Fourth Congressional District

Consolidation

Voters of Leon County have gone to the polls four times to vote on consolidation of Tallahassee and Leon County governments into one jurisdiction combining police and other city services with already shared (consolidated) Tallahassee Fire Department and Leon County Emergency Medical Services. Tallahassee's city limits would increase from 103.1 square miles (267 km²) to 702 square miles (1,820 km²). Roughly 36 percent of Leon County's 265,714 residents live outside the Tallahassee city limits.
The proponents of consolidation have stated that the new jurisdiction would attract business by its size. Merging governments would cut government waste, duplication of services, etc. Professor Richard Feiock of the Department of Public Administration of Korea University and the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy of Florida State University states that no discernible relationship exists between consolidation and the local economy.^[33]
Each time, the measure was rejected: 1968: 10,381 (41.32%)|14,740 (58.68%); 1973: 11,056 (46.23%)| 12,859 (53.77%); 1976: 20,336 (45.01%) | 24,855 (54.99%); 1992: 37,062 (39.8%) | 56,070 (60.2%).

Federal representation and offices

Tallahassee is part of Florida's 2nd congressional district.
The United States Postal Service operates post offices in Tallahassee. The Tallahassee Main Post Office is located at 2800 South Adams Street.^[34] Other post offices in the city limits include Centerville Station,^[35] Leon Station,^[36] Park Avenue Station,^[37] and Westside Station.^[38]
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration maintains a National Weather Service in Tallahassee. Their coverage-warning area includes the eastern Florida Panhandle and adjacent Gulf of Mexico waters, the north-central Florida peninsula, and parts of southeastern Alabama and southwestern Georgia.
The U.S. Army Reserve 81st Regional Support Command (USAR) opened an Army Reserve Center at 4307 Jackson Bluff Road.
The U.S. Navy Reserve Navy Operational Support Center Tallahassee (NOSC Tallahassee) is located at 2910 Roberts Avenue.

Flag

The flag of Tallahassee is vaguely similar to the flag of Florida, a white saltire on a blue field, with the city's coat of arms, featuring the cupola of old capitol building, at the center. The flag is an homage to the Scottish and Ulster-Scots Presbyterian heritage of the original founders of the city, most of whom were settlers from North Carolina whose ancestors had either come to America directly from Scotland, or were Presbyterians of Scottish descent from County Down and County Antrim in what has since become Northern Ireland.^[39]