Charter Amendment Petition Drive Succeeds--November Ballot to Include "Question C"
by Dale Tibbitts, District 5 Vice President & Election Reform Chair
Photos by Fernando Bren and George Sauer
The MCCF successfully spearheaded the collection of 15,149 petition signatures from the registered voters of Montgomery County to place a Charter amendment on the November ballot to change the make-up of the County Council from five district and four at-large members to nine district members. Our success was publicized at a press release on the steps of the Council Office Building on August 2 and the petitions turned in to Council staff the same afternoon.
A
total of 120 individuals participated in the collection effort from all around
the county. Like the recent weather, the forms came flooding in the last two
weeks before the deadline on August 9. People kept working right up to the
end to build a sufficient buffer to guarantee 10,000 valid signatures. The
petition has now been certified by the Board of Elections, and the County
Council has placed it on the ballot as "Question C". By law the
County Council writes the actual text that appears on the ballot. Council
staff recommended, "Amend Sections 102, 103, and 104 of the County Charter
to:
• Divide the County into 9, rather than the current 5, Council districts;
and
• Elect all Councilmembers by district, rather than the current 5 by
district and 4 "at large."
President
Dan Wilhelm
is pleased
Councilmember Praisner amended the language by adding "-- eliminate each voter's ability to vote for a majority of the Council by reducing from 5 to 1 the number of Councilmembers that a voter can vote for." Councilmembers Perez, Andrews and Denis argued against the biased addition but lost 6-3. The County Attorney advised the Council that it may have crossed over the legal requirement to be fair and accurate. They amended the language again to read, "-- reduce from 5 to 1 the number of Councilmembers that a voter can vote for." Thus, the final ballot question will include three points: the two recommended by Council staff plus the one added by the Council.
An
"at-large" seat on the County Council represents almost one million
people, far more than a Congressional seat. In recent years the at-large campaigns
have become so expensive that special interest contributors, such as developers
and land-use attorneys, are effectively controlling the outcome of elections
for those seats.
Fernando Bren speaks at
Press Conference
Big pile, big smiles: petitions are presented to
Patrick Lacefield, Council
staff by Drew Powell, Wayne Goldstein, Dale Tibbitts, Lois Sherman, Al
Brock, Allan Runquist and Dan Wilhelm.
This Page Last Edited: September 26, 2004 .