“VICTORY FOR DEMOCRACY IN SAN JUAN COUNTY”
||| FROM BEN CHAPMAN for FAIR VOTE WASHINGTON |||
After the San Juan County Council attempted to block four charter amendments from going to the voters, residents of San Juan County pushed back with a lawsuit. Today, the San Juan County Superior Court ordered that the 4 charter amendments be placed on the San Juan County general election ballot. This is a resounding victory for San Juan County voters.
Sharon Abreu, former Charter Review Commission Member and one of the petitioners, said, “We are extremely pleased with Judge Skinner’s decision! It was disappointing that we were forced to take this action because of the secretive and irresponsible behavior of the County Council, but today justice has prevailed and all San Juan County citizens will have the right to vote on four critical amendments including ranked-choice voting and a Public Advocate!
Alyssa Koepfen of Smith & Lowney, PLLC, attorney for the petitioners, said, “We’re very pleased with the court’s decision today, which protects the citizens of San Juan County’s right to vote and condemns the County Council’s attempt to arbitrarily interfere with that right. The court ultimately agreed with our position that not only did the Council commit a legal error by failing to place the Commission’s proposed amendments on the ballot, but that it also acted inequitably by failing to say anything to the Commission for over a year even though it certainly knew the Commission was continuing to meet and would be submitting a second set of proposed amendments. This is a decision which promotes transparency and fairness, as well as the rule of law.”
One of the four charter amendments is for ranked-choice voting (RCV). RCV is a simple-to-use, nonpartisan reform that gives voters more choice, more voice, and more say in elections. It is used by over 50 jurisdictions across the country and it creates more issue-based campaigns that better serve the voters.
RCV is a simple improvement to the way we vote. With RCV, you can rank candidates on your ballot in the order you prefer: 1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice, and so on. If your favorite can’t win, your vote counts for your next choice. View this short video to learn more.
SEE ALSO:
- COURT DECISION: https://theorcasonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Courts-Decision.pdf
- COURT ORDER: https://theorcasonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Order.pdf
**If you are reading theOrcasonian for free, thank your fellow islanders. If you would like to support theOrcasonian CLICK HERE to set your modestly-priced, voluntary subscription. Otherwise, no worries; we’re happy to share with you.**
The unprecedented promptness of the court’s action, in the face of deadlines for the November ballot, also shows what an obvious decision it was. I’d be curious to know what made the Prosecuting Attorney’s office think it could (again) give the Council such flawed and anti-democratic legal advice. Thanks to Sharon and Maureen for raising the challenge!
Thank you, Brian. We are now waiting to find out if the County is going to appeal the judge’s decision.
Thank you litigants, sorry you had to go to all that effort, after those councilors’ missteps ; we are grateful… now will you release the “legal advice” that kept rights of nature off the ballot, please?
“Appeal” ??!!?!!!?
Great news! Thank you to everyone that pushed back against the council’s egregious behavior. I just went to the website for a new political party calling itself the FORWARD party:
https://www.forwardparty.com/platform
If you share my preference for RCV, you will be glad to know that it is part of their platform. It is long past time for a multi-party system in the United States and RCV is a stepping stone in that direction. This new party may not be the one to break the political duopoly but then again, maybe it is! I support environmental sanity above all else and it remains to be seen whether the Forward Party will commit to protecting the environment.
There will be no appeal.
If the County Councilors decide to appeal, I will be very disappointed.
Correct, Justin, there will be no appeal. Here is the announcement from the County Council: https://www.sanjuanco.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1222.
Just to point out that the County Council has no authority to vote on whether or not to forward Charter Amendments to the County Auditor. Charter Amendments that are submitted to the County Council are not for the Council to approve or not approve. They are obligated to forward those Amendments to the County Auditor.