[Grovenet] Reflections on Minority Rule

[Bonnie Combs]

And purging the voter registration rolls would be a
much easier "sell"l than knocking out the 50% law
completely.
David, thanks for the great ideas you keep casting
before us.

Bonnie

--- David Morelli <jo.david at verizon.net> wrote:

> If we are to have a 50% vote requirement, perhaps we
> should ensure  
> that the voter rolls are purged every two years
> following the general  
> election.  Everyone who has not voted at least once
> in the two years  
> and everyone who has died/moved is removed from the
> voter rolls.
> 
> David
> 
> On May 16, 2007, at 10:53 AM, Jeff Cooper wrote:
> 
> > According to today's Oregonian the Public Safety
> levy will fail.   
> > Please note the following statistics:
> > Partial returns show the levy passing by a 3 to 1
> margin.
> > The measure will fail because of a 44.1% turnout
> (50% required).
> >
> > This election shows the folly and difficulty of
> the 50% law.   
> > First, 44% truly reflects a strong turnout for an
> election with  
> > truly only one issue (only one of the school board
> vacancies were  
> > contested and indeed a large number of site
> council positions had  
> > no candidate at all).
> >
> > Some may argue that this 3-1 margin shows
> overwhelming support for  
> > the levy, but the election set-up skews results. 
> Many voters may  
> > have purposefully stayed away from the election
> because they knew  
> > that if they voted "no" they might have *helped
> the levy pass."   
> > Simple math shows the following:
> >
> > 8,712 Registered voters @ 44.1% turnout = 3842
> votes cast
> > 3 to 1 ratio of yea to nay = 2882 yeah and 960 nay
> > Assuming that all the yea voters voted (they have
> to vote in to  
> > pass the levy), if another 514 residents cast
> their votes (assuming  
> > all nays), then the measure would have passed. 
> Indeed, it would  
> > have taken almost 2000 more nay votes or 5764
> total votes with a  
> > whopping 67% turnout to vote down the levy.
> >
> > This leads to my following conclusions which may
> have been  
> > discussed before,  and are by no means the last
> word on the subject  
> > but I feel are valid:
> > 1. Single issue ballots should not come to
> referendum if a 50% rule  
> > is in order.
> > 2. The democratic process in general is undermined
> when not voting  
> > is more powerful than voting.  As noted above, if
> 500 more voters  
> > voted nay, the levy would have passed.
> > 3. The law requiring a 50% turnout should be
> repealed.
> >
> > Yes, I'm a transplanted Berkeley liberal, but I
> feel that this  
> > issue transcends party lines and strikes directly
> at the  
> > fundamentals of democracy.  My own feelings about
> the levy  
> > notwithstanding, I'm appalled that we live within
> a system that  
> > allows an overwhelming 3 to 1 *voted* mandate to
> go down to defeat  
> > in this way.  A system which discourages people
> from voting should  
> > not be continued in this country.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Jeff Cooper
> _______________________________________________
> GroveNet mailing list
> GroveNet at rdrop.com
> http://www.rdrop.com/mailman/listinfo/grovenet
>