Summary of Proposed Town Charter Amendment to Require a Majority for Election to Town Office
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Last August my good friend Vernon Archer (a Ward 4 resident) said "Alan, we need to change the Town Charter so people need the support of at least half of the voters, a simple majority, to get elected." This sounded like a great idea to me, but I wondered how bad the situation really was. Looking at the history of elections in town surprised me: there have been eight times during the town's history when someone won office without a majority, and in six of the eight the winner had gotten 40% or less of the vote. In the worst two cases, the 1965 and 1969 mayor's races, the winner received less than 33% of the votes.
We both thought amending the charter would prevent the possibility of minority rule and encourage people to run for office. Such an amendment would also eliminate voter concerns that a third candidacy might "throw the election" to a candidate they didn't like. Because they would get another chance to vote if one candidate didn't capture at least half the votes, people could vote for the person they thought was best for the job rather than trying to balance their preferences with the possibility someone they really didn't like would win the race.
Vernon and I agreed we would work on it during the fall. About a week later Vernon started a new job, and I got busy with other things, and nothing happened until I woke up one morning in January and realized that if it was going to happen by the May 2001 election, it had to happen right away.
Several members of the council liked the idea, and Ward 6 representative Lissa Scott agreed to sponsor the amendment. The full legal text of the amendment is in this issue of the Town Crier. This article explains the amendment in plain English.
The basic principle of the amendment is that our leaders should be supported by a majority of the people. To make sure that this is the case in our municipal elections, the Town Charter would
require that if no candidate for an office receives more than half of the votes, a runoff election will be held to choose between the two candidates who received the most votes. Only people who were registered to vote in the regular election will be allowed to vote in the runoff election. Having a few runoff elections is a small price to pay for a more democratic system.
Here is a quick example for an election for Sesame Street representative to the Town Council. If Kermit receives 38 votes, Elmo receives 37 votes, and Oscar receives 25 votes, then Kermit and Elmo would appear on the ballot in the runoff election. This is the way the amendment would have been applied for the eight times it would have been used during our town's history.
Most of the rest of the amendment deals with unusual situations surrounding tie votes. While unlikely, ties have occurred and should be dealt with in the charter. If you are interested in these or other details of the amendment, I will be happy to discuss them with you either before or at the March council meeting.
Please contact me, Mayor Ann Ferguson, or your council representative with questions or comments. The amendment is scheduled for a vote at the March legislative session.
Alan Thompson, a Ward 1 resident, is not running for office in the May 2001 election.
This page was last changed on Monday, June 25, 2001. Questions, comments, or submissions? See the Website Committee web page. This page has been accessed times.