THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9406290140
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
Even those who don't agree that a ward system is necessary to assure equitable minority representation on Chesapeake's School Board must recognize that Councilman Arthur L. Dwyer's proposal to conduct an advisory referendum on the question is ill-advised.
What would a referendum accomplish? If - as Mr. Dwyer probably supposes - a majority of voters favors an at-large election system, that fact in no way relieves the Council of its responsibility to prove to the satisfaction of the Justice Department and the courts that all Chesapeake voters, regardless of race, have an equal opportunity to affect the outcome of city elections.
Any advisory referendum, of course, would be subject to exactly the same kind of racial polarization that Justice Department investigators are concerned about in at-large school board elections. Since only about one-third of the city's voters are non-white, they could all vote the same way and still not prevail.
Besides, the preference of a majority of voters, regardless of race, is essentially irrelevant. Even if Chesapeake voters were of a single mind on the type of election system they prefer, their opinion should be of no consequence if that system is inherently unfair. Injustice should not be tolerated, even when it has superior numbers on its side.
If an at-large system is the best and most equitable method for conducting elections, the city should challenge the Justice Department's findings on their merits and prove them wrong. If it is not the best and most equitable method, no public opinion poll will make it so.
A straw vote would only divert attention away from the real issues before us. by CNB