One person, one vote is a time-honored principle of democratic governance that is based on the idea of full-time residence in a community. Otherwise, the problem becomes one of defining artificial factors by part-time residence, property ownership, tax status or some other criterion by which some individuals are favored over others and potentially get to vote either twice or in more than one jurisdiction. That would also likely violate the 14th Amendment and Title 52 of the U.S. Code – www.justice.gov/crt/title-52-voting-and-elections-subtitle-i-and-ii.
So what is the dispute over voting in the City of Lewes municipal elections really about?
Importantly, the city manager should not be the channel, throttle or bottleneck for complaints, as written in the current Lewes city manual, because that is a conflict of interest. While the city manager reports to the mayor and city council in carrying out what they direct, they cannot be expected to have fair, objective and balanced perspective on their own performance or public complaints about their performance. This is not to say that their performance is bad; public perceptions are an essential element of effective governance, and that can require a public advocate who is neither a politician nor an administrator.
There are multiple ways that non-full-time residents in Lewes already get to vote, participate and communicate concerns. But if there are complaints or grievances not being heard, there are at least two important remedies.
The Center for Community Justice can be enlisted under their existing mediation mission. Mediation is a cost-effective, non-litigious way to help parties in dispute reach mutual agreement by common consent. It may also make sense to create a community ombudsman position for the city – that is, someone to intervene and advocate as needed on behalf of anyone: full-time resident or not.
These solutions do not require compromising the sacred principle of full-time citizens to have one vote per one real person and should be able to assure fair representation for all.
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