Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 6, 1994 TAG: 9408090027
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Within those legal issues, however, lies a new reason - or at least amplification of an old reason - for remaining dubious about the proposal.
If a referendum is held to determine whether Roanokers in fact want to abandon the current at-large system of electing all council members, says the report on council's agenda Monday night, it could be as late as 1998 before the new system is put into effect.
That in itself is not an argument for or against a ward system. Neither is Dibling's conclusion that the law doesn't require a referendum for the change to be made.
To be sure, so fundamental a change shouldn't be made without a much clearer indication of popular support. That could come in the form of an advisory referendum, but it could come in other ways - the results of a regular councilmanic election, say, in which the ward system is a central issue. So far, however, it has been a side issue, the result of a push by a few of the proposal's advocates rather than a reflection of a public-opinion groundswell.
The other factor that could delay implementation does speak to the merits of the matter. It is the need for Justice Department review and approval, under the Voting Rights Act, to ensure that a modified ward system wouldn't unduly stifle the political voice of Roanoke's black voters.
Typically, Justice skepticism would be directed at proposals to move in the other direction, from a ward system to an at-large system. But since 1970 in Roanoke, as Dibling noted, black candidates have been elected to council in proportions slightly greater than the percentage of the electorate that is African-American.
This may be an irony, but more than irony is at play. As the at-large system currently works in the city, it also represents a resolution of a troublesome dilemma in the decades-long effort to achieve racial justice in America. How can you work toward the goal of erasing race as a condition for full-fledged citizenship without also paying special attention to race in such things as voting rules?
Granted, the racial integration of elective municipal politics in Roanoke applies to only one piece of life in one small American city. Granted, too, it's not the only consideration in the ward-system debate. But it's a success that should not be lightly dismissed.
by CNB