Agenda - 09-10-20; Item 3 - Discussion Regarding the Membership Composition of the Planned Committee to Examine the Election Method for Members of the Orange County Board of Commissioners

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21 $ Commissioner Price said schools board races are also multicandidate. She said this is not the time to rush, especially as in person public hearings cannot currently happen. She said this requires more work than the BOCC can accomplish in a short amount of time. Commissioner McKee asked John Roberts if the BOCC were to change the districts, would this go back to the legislature. John Roberts said no, changing the districts can be done by County voter referendum. Commissioner McKee said given the difficulty with virtual meetings, he does not think the BOCC can go forward with this because the public cannot attend. He said it is critical to hold off any of these discussions until face-to-face meetings resume. Chair Rich said all the school boards are elected the same way, as are the municipalities, but the County Commissioners only have one such election. Chair Rich said after the primary, she had voters tell her that it was not a fair vote due to people single shot voting. She said this is not the way to hold voting. She said she believes that Commissioner Dorosin just wants to begin a discussion, and create a committee or a sub-group to move the topic forward. Commissioner Dorosin said he is not suggesting that this needs to be rushed, but he wanted to know if there is a BOCC majority that wants to explore this further, and, if so, move forward. He agreed that public input is important, and this meeting platform is problematic. He said he finds cumulative voting interesting, but feels it is not within the realm of possibilities until the general assembly changes. He said changing to single member districts can be done without the legislature. He said there are ways to create districts that do not carve the County up like a pizza. Commissioner Dorosin said many voters told him that they were unaware they could have voted for two candidates in District 1. He said he believed that the BOCC could have something ready for the 2022 primary. Commissioner McKee said he does not believe that people threw their votes away by just voting for one candidate, but rather voters made a conscious decision to vote for just one candidate. He said the ballot clearly tells the voter if it can vote for one or two candidates. He said this discussion has come up over the years, and nothing has moved forward, so it must be that people do not want to change the process. Commissioner Price said she agreed with Commissioner McKee. She said this election process has been going on for 12 years, and no one has challenged or changed it. She said it is important to determine the problem that the BOCC is trying to solve. She said she would support having a task force to look at this issue further, in anticipation of the 2022 election. She said people have the right to do what they like with their votes, and she is more concerned about guaranteeing voting rights, and access to voting. She said this election was not unfair. Chair Rich said she did not say it was unfair, but she said that there were thousands of single shot votes. She said it is a different kind of race than the other Orange County Board of Commissioners has to run. Commissioner Price said that is correct, but the residents are exercising their voting rights. Commissioner Dorosin said he has brought this topic up for 4 years, and he wanted to highlight the inequities that exist since changing to this district system. He said this is not about the most recent election. Commissioner Greene agreed there is not enough time to get it on the 2020 ballot, for all the reasons that have been stated. She said it is not just the BOCC that is interested in discussing this issue, but rather the community is interested. She said the BOCC owes it to itself and the community to have this discussion at length in the fall. Commissioner Marcoplos said he agreed with Commissioners Greene and Dorosin.