Whatcom View: Smaller-city mayors support Whatcom district-only voting

We — the mayors of Whatcom County’s smaller cities — understand that the proposition pile-up on the Nov. 3 ballot is complicated. Of course it’s complicated – sadly, it was designed to be. That’s one of the stealth strategies at play in this election, crafted by groups hoping to take away the voter’s voice: power-grabbers and think tanks know that confused voters (or angry voters) tend to vote against the whole ballot or simply leave it blank. Both of these reactions will be very dangerous – rejecting everything or being inactive in this election will have far-reaching consequences about your voice and the future of our community and values.

It matters. It really does.

But how can an average citizen make sense of it? Is there a way to understand the chaos of the current mess? Boil it down? As mayors, we often have to simplify politics for students at assemblies. So, in light of the current muddle, here’s an illustration we might offer a middle school audience. “Kids, let’s say you want to be your 7th grade classroom representative. Twelve of the 22 students in your classroom vote for you because they know you really understand what’s important to everyone in the group and what key issues are (longer breaks, vending machines with better drinks, warmer showers in the locker room). Oh, but wait. Suddenly you find out that someone changed the rules. Now, in order to become a representative you must actually win the votes of 90 kids from four other classrooms, some from elementary schools and some from schools located in different cities. How will they get to know you? How will you know what’s important to everyone from all over? Could you be a good leader and represent well? Could you get elected now? Would that work very well?”

The answer to that scenario is obvious: “No!”

It’s similar to what faces Whatcom County. What we all want are representatives who live among us and know us well enough to advocate for us. District-only voting had a chance at being successful in this way and received a 55 percent approval in 2005, but in 2007 the County Council put another measure on the ballot to reverse what the people had enacted as law in 2005; unfortunately, back-to-back measures on the same proposal with opposite outcomes confused the voters. District-only voting never had an opportunity to function or show its value.

We citizens complained, but had to wait for appeal until a new Charter Review Commission was elected. A 10-year cycle! Finally, our waiting was over. A dutifully-elected review commission heard the people and made recommendations (Propositions 1,2,3 before us now) to restore fairness and create solutions.

However, as soon as the Charter Review Commission published their recommended propositions for this election, the County Council quickly devised a strategy with overlapping propositions (9 and 10) with deceptive terms like “fair” and “equitable” which will, if approved, actually insure their positions as elected officials and also frustrate and offset the recommendations being made by the Charter Review Commission. This is “back room politics” at its worst. Again.

As mayors of six cities in Whatcom County, we believe that our county is currently not being represented fairly under the County Council’s current system. Much care was taken when the original charter was formed in 1978, which also gave us options for corrections if needed through the Charter Review Commission. Propositions 1, 2 and 3 reflect how we elect representatives to the state and federal Houses. Seattle is another example of a huge region that has moved to district-only voting to better represent constituency. If this method of voting works for Seattle and broader government agencies, shouldn’t it work for Whatcom County?

These propositions are a matter of critical importance: your careful vote is crucial to protecting your voice and your future. Please join us in voting to reinstate district-only voting by approving Charter Review Propositions 1, 2 and 3. But, unfortunately, even that doesn’t guarantee our representation: we also have to reject Propositions 9 and 10, which would complicate, circumvent and create a conflicting voting system.

If you made it this far reading our editorial, we have one more recommendation: vote yes on Prop. 2015-1 for a new jail. It is critical and it is already overdue. The need will not go away — it will just end up costing us more. If you want more information, please contact any one of us.

This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Whatcom View: Smaller-city mayors support Whatcom district-only voting."