Election Platforms

With the first candidates for local office announcing their intentions in the past few weeks it is time to establish the theme of 2008 - change.

We keep hearing about the change on the national stage and local residents should take that sentiment to heart as the election year heats up.

And the start is a pledge from any candidate wishing to take a seat on the Board of County Commissioners to end single-member districts.

Some of the arguments for such a stance are pretty easy to grasp:

An overwhelming voter mandate from across the county;

The ingrained unfairness of a system in which only constitutional officers and municipal officials actually face all the voters, instead of one-fifth of the populace for commissioners;

A governing system that is economically inefficient with taxpayer dollars;

A rigged governing system appropriate not to the present day, but 25 years ago;

And finally, a return to county-wide voting that would give each voter five commissioners instead of one.

But the final point is this - let elected officials and candidates explain how single-member districts are the best route for the county.

That will put the stump in the campaign season.