Because the winner could directly impact whether the Tampa Bay Rays are able to explore stadium locations outside of St. Pete, there’s been a lot of buzz surrounding the District 7 City Council race between Will Newton and Lisa Wheeler-Brown. But that race isn’t the only one on the November 3 general election open to all St. Pete voters.
A poll released this week shows more than 80 percent of respondents did not know there were four ballot questions.
A couple of them are pretty straight forward. One referendum question asks whether City Council candidates and mayoral candidates should have to live either in their district, or, in the case of a mayoral candidate, in the city before, during and after an election. Yes on that referendum would prevent City Council members from renting a home in one district and then moving out of that district after an election. It would also ensure a sitting mayor couldn’t leave St. Pete as his or her place of residence during the mayoral term.
Another referendum asks whether an electronic tally system now available to the City Clerk should be a valid replacement for an audible roll call during certain City Council votes. Currently the City Clerk uses the electronic tally system that displays a “y” or an “n” next to each Council person’s name to indicate how they voted. However, the clerk is still required to read each council member’s name and vote in an audible roll call. The referendum would make that process less ambiguous.
The only drawback to such a move would be for the seeing impaired since a verbal vote tally would not occur and instead those individuals would only hear whether a motion passed or failed.
Two other referendums are a little more complicated. One involves environmental protection of an area located adjacent to North Shore Park. It would give City Council the authority to create permanent restrictions on land use in order to preserve seagrass beds.
The referendum is aimed at water quality improvement and habitat conservation.
Another referendum asks whether “Precinct Lines Need Not be Followed Where it Would Compromise Compact and Contiguous Council Districts.” The state is currently grappling with redrawing congressional district lines to avoid claims of gerrymandering. Rules surrounding drawing district boundaries require them to be compact and contiguous — something a judge ruled was simply not the case.
This city referendum would allow City Council, essentially, to not use precinct boundaries as a basis for drawing City Council district lines — meaning two voters in the same precinct could be in different districts.
The city is charged with redrawing district lines every 10 years. Lines are redrawn after the city receives results from the once-a-decade federal census. Under the current charter, districts must be drawn in a “compact, contiguous territory” with their lines following “the centerlines of streets, railroad lines or other natural boundaries.” But the charter also calls for districts to “follow voting precinct lines whenever possible.”
The change to language merely clarifies that keeping districts “compact and contiguous” trumps precinct lines.
