Registration Committee proposes a Charter change
At Town Meeting on Oct 2, the Registration Committee introduced a motion to hold a Special Referendum asking Arden residents to change how we approve a referendum. The motion passed.
Currently a referendum must be approved by over 50% of all eligible voters. This requirement comes from our Town Charter. The committee recommends that we change this to approval by over 50% of those who vote in the referendum. This would allow residents to abstain from a referendum if they choose to.
The best example of the problem created by the “over 50% of all eligible voters” standard is the annual Budget Referendum. Currently, there is no way to abstain from this election; if you do not return your budget ballot, it is counted exactly as if you had voted “NO” on the entire budget. Voters always have the option of voting “NO” on the entire budget. (Every year, 2 or 3 people do vote to disapprove the entire budget.) Voters also have the option of disapproving individual items. But the language of the Charter effectively counts all non-votes as NO votes, too – NO to the entire Budget. Not only does this deprive voters of their right to choose to participate, it also creates the possibility that the Budget could fail. There is no remedy if the Budget fails.
Based on many years of shared experience conducting elections and encouraging voter participation, the majority of the Registration Committee recommends that we change the standard for approving a referendum so it can be approved by a majority of those who vote in the referendum. The original motion read in March and June asked the Town Meeting to approve this change and then send it to a referendum for further approval. The motion, in its final form as passed at the Town Meeting, instructs the Registration Committee to conduct a referendum sending the question directly to all the residents.
Click this link to see the full text of the motion passed at the Town Meeting on Oct. 2, 2023.
Why do we need this change? Would it be less democratic? How do we make a change to the Charter? There are detailed answers to these questions below, as well as responses to the questions raised by Marianne Cinaglia and Mike Curtis in the September Arden Page.
We urge you to inform yourself on this issue, and vote in the Special Referendum.
– Cecilia Vore, chair, Registration Committee
FAQ’s
All responses below were written by Cecilia Vore, chair, Arden Registration Committee
Why do we need this change?
• Currently, there is no way to abstain from this election; if you do not return your Budget ballot, it is counted exactly as if you had voted “NO” on the entire Budget. The proposed change would allow residents to abstain from the referendum if they choose to. This is the same right residents have at a Town Meeting — the ability to vote Yea, Nay, Abstain, or simply not vote.
• The Budget can fail. This can happen when non-votes are added to actual no-votes. There is no backup for a failed budget. You can’t use last year’s budget. You can’t hold another referendum. This change would eliminate the danger of the Budget failing simply because people didn’t return their ballots.
Wouldn’t this be less democratic?
No. We have a Town Meeting form of government, a direct democracy. At open committee meetings residents have the opportunity to influence how money is spent. At the September Town Meeting, residents can even add, delete or change items and amounts on the Budget before the Budget is sent to referendum. With the proposed change, the Budget could be approved by a majority of the residents who vote; typically 63-70% of total eligible voters. Deciding an election by a majority of people participating in the election is democratic.
Why doesn’t the Registration Committee work harder to get every to vote?
First, read this information sheet
What does the Registration Committee do?
to see all the ways the current committee works to get the vote out – and we do get the vote out. All of our election efforts – informing voters, mailing ballots and stamped return envelopes, reminding voters to return their ballots, replacing lost ballots – all of that will continue. Even though we consistently ensure a 65% turnout or higher, the problem remains: there is no way for a resident to abstain from this election. And when non-votes are counted as “NO” votes rather than abstentions, there is a risk the Budget will fail.
Would this change apply to all referendums?
It would apply to all referendums covered in the Charter – the annual Budget Referendum, referendums needed when there is an Alternate Assessment, and special referendums requested by the Town Meeting. This charter change would not apply to the confirmation of a Trustee, which is defined in the Deed of Trust.
How do we make this change to the Charter?
The proposed change will be sent to a referendum of all the residents. If approved by a majority of all eligible voters (following the current requirements for approval), our Delaware legislators will be asked to make the change to our Charter. The change is actually made by the Delaware legislature, since our Charter is Delaware law.
How does the motion passed on Oct. 2 differ from the motion that was read at the March and June Town Meetings?
Two items of the original motion have been removed because they simply didn’t belong with the main issue: changing the requirements for a referendum so that non-votes don’t count as NO votes and residents have the right to abstain. The motion entertained and passed on Oct. 2 was a motion to conduct a Special Referendum send the change to all the voters and let the decision be made by them.
Questions submitted by Warren Rosenkranz:
The Registration Committee will prepare a referendum ballot as instructed in the motion. It will be included along with the Budget Referendum and the Assessors Election ballot in the mailing that will go to all eligible voters around Oct. 10. The Deadline for returning these ballots is Nov. 8.
If the motion to have a referendum does not pass – what is the result?
If the motion had been defeated at the Town Meeting, then there would be no Special Referendum. The motion did pass, but if the referendum itself doesn’t pass, the requirements for passing a referendum remain the same — approval by a majority of all eligible voters.
Does Town Assembly determine how the charter change is voted upon?
The motion before the Town Assembly called for the Registration Committee to send the charter change to a referendum of all eligible residents. In passing the motion, the Town Assembly agreed that this is a proper way to approve this specific charter change and sent the matter directly to all the residents for a decision.
If the motion to have a referendum passes and the motion on the referendum to change the charter does not pass what is the result?
The motion to have a referendum did pass, so we hold a referendum. If the referendum does not pass, the requirement in the Charter is unchanged and the “majority of all eligible voters” requirement for passage of the Budget Referendum, alternate assessment referenda, and other general referenda remains the same.
If the motion to have a referendum passes, and the motion on the referendum to change the charter passes, what is the result?
The Registration Committee will record the official the results of the referendum and, through our representatives, the Village of Arden will attest to the results of the referendum and petition the Delaware Legislature for this charter change. The change will then go through a process of review by lawyers for the State, and the change will be introduced by our legislators and voted on by the Delaware Legislature. It is the practice of the Legislature to honor self-government of its municipalities. If we have demonstrated that this is the will of our residents as expressed through our election process, and the Legislature finds no conflict with State law, the charter change will be made. From that point onward, the Budget Referendum and other referenda must be approved by a majority of the eligible voters who chose to participate in the election. The change will not apply to the confirmation of a Trustee, which will continue to follow the “majority of all eligible voters” standard, as set forth in the Deed of Trust.
The standard of approval would be the only change to our referendum process — the Registration Committee would still maintain an accurate list of all residents, as required by the Charter. And the committee would continue to mail ballots to each eligible voter, to make reminder calls, and provide replacement ballots.
Answering questions raised in the September Arden Page
In answer to Marianne Cinaglia’s article:
Will these voting changes alter Arden’s form of government?
No. We have a Town Meeting form of government. Authority is vested in the Town Meeting. The Registration Committee is not seeking any authority beyond what we already do: run elections, count votes, welcome newcomers. The Town Meeting has decided that this voting change should be sent to a referendum of all residents. If the referendum passes, we will still have a Town Meeting form of government.
What categories of residents are not voting?
The Registration Committee maintains an up-to-date list of residents and the date they become eligible to vote. That is all the record-keeping we are required and empowered to do. We do not put residents in categories. Renters, newcomers – even folks who never go to Town Meeting – people in all these categories participate in the life of the village. The Registration Committee believes that all residents should be able to abstain from an election – just as you can abstain from a vote at the Town Meeting.
What is the Registration Committee doing . . . ?
If you want to know what the Registration Committee does to run elections and encourage residents to participate see this article. This year, we are adding a “Meet the Assessors Candidates” event to everything else. Watch for details in the October Arden Page.
Re: Absentee Voting
There is no single article in our Charter that covers when and how committees and officers are elected (for example, “every year at the Town Meeting in March”). These instructions are found in the individual articles and ordinances that created each committee and officer. The Registration Committee recommends that we add one article to our Charter that covers the election of committees and officers in general to ensure that all are covered by our Absentee Voting procedure, including any created in the future. Because this is not an urgent issue, and should not require a referendum, this item has been removed from our motion and referred to the Governance Task Force. Meanwhile, our Absentee Voting process is the same as it has been since March 2012. It is thanks to Marianne Cinaglia’s persistence that we have Absentee Voting. You can read more about it by clicking this link to the
Registration Committee’s Election Procedures & Records page.
Response to Mike Curtis’ article
The title says it all: “Not Voting is a No Vote.” Exactly. Under our current rules, all the residents who don’t vote are added to the one or two voters who every year mark “I disapprove the entire budget.” You can’t abstain. And if enough residents don’t vote, the entire budget will, in fact, surely fail.
Mike suggests that some people might not vote because they are busy with children or stressed out from work. Or perhaps we have a lot of renters who have no self-interest in voting on our budget. These are incorrect assumptions. Caregivers, renters, people who work long hours, retirees – all types of residents vote.
Yes, we are a democracy that derives its powers from the will of the governed. In our Town Meetings and elections all residents have the opportunity to express their will. But we should also allow people to choose not to participate, whatever their reasons or lack of reasons. If people choose to abstain from a vote, shouldn’t we respect that? Mike himself says, “I think most people do care about our public expenditures.” Then why assume that not voting on the budget means disapproval? Why not assume a non-voter approves of how the Village is spending its money? Or a non-voter is comfortable relying their neighbors who have the interest and availability to be actively involved in town government?
Our current referendum procedure requires that we send a ballot to every eligible voter. (We even include a stamped return envelope!) That requirement ensures that we include all residents and enable their participation. The additional requirement – effectively to count unreturned ballots as NO votes – doesn’t help either the voters or the committee members who do the reminding. Nor is it more democratic. Voters appreciate when their participation is valued – not when it is mandated.