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options available to the counties by the general law, the options being used across North Carolina by the other 99 counties, and the history of this issue in Orange County. There was also some statistical information that is in part relevant to questions that would have to be addressed if the County Commissioners were to put before the voters a referendum on some kind of district form of election that is related to one person, one vote requirement of the United States Constitution. Geof Gledhill said that the questions were posed by the Board at the May 5t" meeting and the staff has tried to answer those questions in the information in the packets. He said that the three options from Chair Carey are each a variation of one option that is available under the general law. This means that if the Board were to select one of these methods to bring before the voters, the process would include a resolution to the County Commissioners followed by a referendum of the voters as to whether or not to make the changes. Chair Carey said that the three options he has proposed are not intended to draw district lines at this point. If any of them were selected, the lines still would have to be drawn to maintain the constitutional requirement for one person, one vote. However, the option for districts that are included with the selection in the district in the primary and involve election in the general election tries to achieve some of the objectives that have been heard in the past. He said that the concern is to maintain the constitutionality of any option that might be considered as well as trying to address some of the concerns that have been raised by members of the public who have been proponents of a change. The intent is to focus on the model and not on any lines in particular. 4. Public Comments Artie Franklin said he lives in Chapel Hill Township and he thanked the Board for the opportunity to comment on the disproportional representation that exists on Board. He said that the current election method in all three official options insure that a hypothetical Commissioner from Cedar Grove will seriously consider the parochial concerns of those in Chapel Hill and Carrboro while insulating the Commissioner from Chapel Hill and Carrboro from considering any of the concerns in Cedar Grove. After reviewing the official options, it seems we disagree on the solution, the problem, and at least partially on its causes. The problem is at least one-third of Orange County's residents are under-represented on the Board of County Commissioners. This disproportional representation is caused by a combination of population concentration and at-large voting. Population concentration plus at-large voting equals under-representation. Proportional representation is the best solution to Orange County's under- representation problem. It could insure election by simple majority rather than by plurality. It could accommodate at-large voting. Proportional representation would provide the opportunity for meaningful representation to all Orange County residents. Its primary disadvantages are that it has been criticized as too complicated and that it is not used in the United States. Proportional representation is used in Cambridge, Massachusetts and in my opinion if they can figure it out up there then we can too. The positive aspect of the official options provided this evening is that election by simple majority replaces election by plurality in Options 1 and 2 and to a substantial degree in Option 3. But the proportional representation formula (population concentration plus at-large voting equals under representation) remains intact. He said that on the negative side, the official options offer no solutions to the problem of disproportional representation on the Board of County commissioners. Instead they maintain partisan interests and other special interests at the expense of the Democratic principles of participatory and broadly representative government. There are additional opportunities to provide meaningful representation to Orange County residents, even using more familiar election methods. He asked the Board to please open this process to