THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 27, 1994 TAG: 9410270021
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A20 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
The Virginia Beach City Council decided Tuesday night to respect the will of the city's voters and pass on to the General Assembly for action a referendum that would transform the city's electoral system from the current at-large set-up to a ward system. The six members who voted in the affirmative deserve credit for not attempting to second guess the electorate.
The issue involved here, as has been noted before, is not the merits of at-large vs. ward voting. One can find well-run cities and poorly-run cities under either system. Rather, the touchstone here was the integrity of the process of initiative and referendum.
A slim majority of Virginia Beach voters approved the initiative to create a ward-type system in the state's largest city last May. The vote was advisory. Since the General Assembly must approve amendments to the city charter, the council had to vote to send the issue to Richmond.
Some of the members who opposed sending the advisory referendum on to Richmond claimed after it had passed that they were not certain whether voters knew what they were voting for in the election.
The members would hardly say the same about their own elections, of course. The purpose of a campaign is to air the issues so the public can make an informed choice. Why should the voters be penalized by having their voice ignored if it was the politicians who refused to take the issue seriously?
Nationwide, initiative and referendum has proved itself to be a powerful reality check on legislative bodies. The time to oppose ideas that officeholders believe to be misguided is during the election campaign, not after the ballots have already been counted. by CNB