As I mentioned in the last post, the referendum to change the election of the Seattle City Council from at-large to district is narrowly losing, but may succeed depending on absentee ballots.
The most effective opposition to this measure came from the Seattle Times. In defense of at-large elections, editorial writer Joni Balter claimed, for example, that
Seattle often has had the nation's highest percentage of female City Council members.With the results of yesterday's election, the new at-large City Council will be composed of 7 men and 2 women (22% female), while the new King County Council, elected by district, will be composed of 9 men and 4 women (31% female). Will Joni Balter now tell us that district elections are a good idea after all, because they sometimes ensure that more women get elected? Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at November 05, 2003 10:17 AM