Either one of these ballot measures, if passed, would fundamentally alter the method used to elect our city council. Citizens for a Community Based City Council seeks to pass an amendment to the city charter to establish that council members be elected by districts, instead of at-large, from the entire city. Roats also points out that electing council members by district would ensure representatives from all areas of the city, as well as make it a lot more feasible for a person without support from wealthy contributors to win election, since the districts would be a ninth the size of the whole town. She feels like they have a good chance of qualifying their proposal in time for the fall election and says help circulating petitions is definitely welcome. This method would fundamentally change the way we're used to electing people to public office here in Seattle.
People feel as though their vote really counts.
Now that's real democracy. I think our voters are just as smart as any others. Everywhere we spoke, we were well received. I think our votes represented people here in Seattle who understand PR and think it's a pretty good idea. With luck, Seattle's voters should have the chance to vote in favor of either district elections or PR on next fall's ballot.