Cox: Beware of the single-member County Commission initiative

A seemingly benign but potentially earthshaking measure is likely to appear on Sarasota County ballots, possibly in the November general election.

The ballot summary would read: "Changes the method by which County Commissioners are elected. Currently each is elected by voters county-wide. This Amendment changes election to single member districts so that each County Commissioner is elected only by the voters in the district that they seek to represent.”

The measure, led by the Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections and supported by the Sarasota County Democratic Party, proposes that each of Sarasota’s five districts elect its own commissioner, and only its own commissioner, to serve on the Sarasota County Commission. Currently, all five county commissioners are elected at-large by the entire voting populace.

It’s important that the people of Sarasota County understand the potentially devastating changes that would occur if this change were enacted. And in fact, educating voters has always been a part of this issue in Sarasota, dating back a quarter-century.

In 1992, a similar measure was put on the ballot, despite protestations that single-member districts would create “ward politics” in which commissioners squabble and horse-trade to finagle petty advantages in order to curry favor from the voters in their district, at the expense of Sarasotans everywhere else. The measure passed 54 percent to 46 percent.

But after just two years, residents realized the passage of the measure was such a big mistake that, in 1994, Sarasota County voters reversed their initial decision and chose to return to at-large elections.

To be sure, the concerns of 25 years ago are amplified exponentially in today’s fractious political environment. Measures like these epitomize everything that is wrong with Washington, D.C., today — too much division down party lines — not something we want to see here in Sarasota County.

Sarasota is facing countywide issues — especially the many variables involved in healthy growth and development — that require unified leadership. Single-member districts throw away any semblance of countywide vision in favor of a system that pits every district against the others in a battle for money and influence.

Furthermore, it threatens to decrease voter turnout and guarantee inferior candidates get elected if people can only go to the polls to vote for a County Commission candidate for their district alone.

Currently, commission candidates are elected at-large, but they must live in the district in which they represent — a condition that garners knowledgeable representation without forcing undue single-mindedness. Commissioners are called to serve their county, a service that extends from their own district through to other districts.

Mind you, this issue is not just about the behavior of the commissioners, but the power of the people.

In our current system of at-large elections, every citizen in the county enjoys equal opportunity to elect the candidate of their choice. Because commissioners’ decisions affect the whole county, so too should voters'. Single-member districts take away that right.

Should this measure pass, voters would no longer have a voice in issues affecting the rest of the county; our influence would be limited, almost literally, to our own backyards.

Supporters argue that single-member districts provide more power to areas of the county that are otherwise overlooked.

Unfortunately, a candidate elected only by his or her district constituents can still be outmaneuvered and overlooked in the deal-making melee that would erupt in a single-member system — and perhaps even more so. If three commissioners create a pact that serves only their three districts, the other two districts will be left high and dry.

With its current at-large commission voting system, Sarasota County can simultaneously move forward while ensuring that its residents in all corners of the county receive the service from the government that they deserve.

A single-member district system serves to stir discord and divisiveness at a time when it is vital that Sarasota County come together in unity.

Sarasota County is not made up of five insular districts, but of one vibrant, dynamic citizenry. What happens in the Gillespie Park, Midtown, Sapphire Shores, Myakka or North Port very much matters to Sarasotans in other parts of the county.

Indeed, all Sarasotans have a vested interest in the county as a whole.

So, too, should our elected officials.

Guest columnist Jack Cox is president of Sarasota-based Halfacre Construction Company.