Orange County NC Website
person applied it was filled by the Board, as much as a year later, with a person who is not <br />a native of Orange County. He feels that he is not represented in his community and <br />although he pays taxes and is subject to ordinances that he does not agree with, he feels <br />that he does not have a voice. <br />Commissioner Gordan asked him to state what he would like far the Board to <br />consider. <br />Mr. Miller said he would like to be able to vote for a person in his district that they <br />pick to represent them. He would like this person to be someone he might run into at the <br />store. He said that it doesn't matter who it is just that it be a person he could talk to once <br />in a while as it might have happened years ago. He urges the greater population of <br />Chapel Hill, and he said that they would always have voting power in the elections, to help <br />get out the word and persuade the Board of County Commissioners to vote in a type of <br />representation that districts can elect their awn representatives and have a voice. <br />Dan Coleman lives in Carrbaro and he agrees with idea that they can use more <br />diversity on the Board of County Commissioners. And whether they elect the political <br />diversity that is at the root of all the complaints about the current system, having a system <br />that allows more diversity is worthwhile. He agrees with Chair Carey about not going in a <br />direction that fosters divisiveness across the county. He thinks the solution would be a <br />system of cumulative voting because cumulative encourages citizens to seek allies across <br />the political spectrum across geographical divides but still allows significant minorities to <br />elect representation to office. He said that he hopes if changes are considered that <br />cumulative voting will be given very serious consideration. It goes beyond just allowing <br />geographical regions to have representation and it goes to the heart of the matter which <br />allows citizens to self-identify themselves according to whatever criteria they consider <br />valid and to then organize around those constituencies to attempt to elect representation <br />to all of us. He said that for cumulative voting to be effective it might make sense to <br />enlarge the board to 7 members only because if you want to think about haw a majority <br />might hold together in its preferences under that kind of system and where a minority <br />aggregation of votes might begin to gain same traction. An election with 3-4 seats open <br />allows those possibilities better than our current system would. The final point that he <br />wanted to make is the consideration of having County Commissioners' elections become <br />non-partisan. He said that he is not sure if there are any legal ramifications under the <br />state law. He remembers one particular experience in1990 when voters asked him about <br />what County Commissioners did and who they were because they were only interested in <br />the Presidential Election. The partisan division doesn't serve us well in terms of allowing a <br />debate about county issues to be continued through Election Day. <br />5. Closing Comments by Bvard Members <br />John Link asked Geof Gledhill if it would take local legislation to do proportional <br />elections. <br />Geof Gledhill said that in proportional voting that cumulative voting and non- <br />partisan elections would require legislation. <br />The meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m <br />Moses Carey, Jr. <br />Chair <br />Donna S. Baker, CMC <br />