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There
seems to be a great deal of disagreement about the question of whether
our County Board should be elected "at large," or should be
broken up into districts to represent the whole county. To be honest,
I find the question a creation of a mountain out of a molehill. Yeah,
I know that's a cliché, but it looks like we're into old axioms
today.
Proponents
of changing our election process claim they want better representation
of the needs of rural Logan County. On its face I find no fault with
this thought. Logan County is divided almost equally in population,
with just over half of its residents living outside the domain of the
city of Lincoln. Therefore, is it not appropriate that at least that
same margin in regard to County Board representation also be from
outside the city of Lincoln's borders? You will get no argument from
me except for one little aside. The reduction of rural representation
on the Logan County Board is due to candidate apathy rather than voter
rejection. Let’s look at the real statistics and see what I mean.
Since
1980 there have been 58 positions available on the Logan County Board.
During this same time span, 104 candidates, including incumbents, have
vied for those positions. Of those 104 candidates, 58, or 55 percent,
were from outside the Lincoln city limits. To me, that looks
remarkably similar to the population pattern of this county. How about
you?
Here's
an interesting statistic. Of the 58 "rural candidates" who
ran for election since 1980, 48 were either elected or re-elected. An
82 percent election rate doesn't tell me that Lincoln residents are
biased according to where a County Board candidate calls home.
Here
are other real-world figures to dwell on. In the last election, Lloyd
Hellman of Emden was the top vote-getter out of all candidates running
for the board. It would be hard to prove urban voter bias using that
statistic. Rod White from rural New Holland is nearing two decades on
the County Board. Surely he must have some Lincolnites in his corner
to support that type of longevity.
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Now
let me tell you what I believe has precipitated this call to
districting. It is, for want of better words, "rural
apathy." In the 1980 and 1982 elections, 15 of the 26 candidates
running for office lived outside the city of Lincoln. That is 57.5
percent of the ballot. In the last two elections only six of the 18
candidates were rural, a dismal 33 percent of the eligibility list.
What this means is simple. The reason for a decline in rural
representation on the County Board is because of candidate apathy, not
voter bias. The figures stand on their own merit, and, forgive my
pretentiousness, but they are beyond dispute. If you don't represent
yourselves, you will not be represented.
There
are other flaws in a district system. The most glaring can best be
shown in a comparison to the Lincoln City Council. In the next
election only one City Council seat will be contested. In effect,
whether these gentlemen are our best choices or not, simply by filing
their candidacy they have been elected. I am a strong supporter of
several of these gentlemen, but let's be honest. They have, by
deciding to run, appointed themselves to the council. In county
election districting, this same situation could arise. I ask, what
will we do if no one from a district decides to run at all? You decide
if this is a healthy situation. At least now we have choices. An
"elect me or no one" doesn’t seem democratic to me.
I
will leave you with one last problem in regard to district voting on
County Board seats. In the event rural residents decide to get off
their keisters and run for office, they might find themselves vying
against each other. Example: Under the current "at-large"
system, several individuals from Elkhart or, say, Atlanta could be
elected to the board. Under a district format, only one such qualified
candidate would be elected from each of these towns. Thus, an
opportunity for greater rural representation will actually be stymied
by districting rather than enhanced.
I
will leave the decision of a change in our election system up to you,
the voter, as I always have. To those who are proponents of
districting, I only say, be careful. You might get what you wished
for.
[Mike
Fak]
This article is re-published
courtesy of www.fakmachine.com.
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