17 March, 2008

Democracy in Action?


I just returned from a meeting of democratically minded folk in the form of a democratic club.  A few nights back, we sponsored an "election" between candidates for the local assembly districts.  As it turns out, most all the members thought we did a good job with the event.  There were a few people, and candidates that felt the "election" was unfair and not transparent enough.
I thought the whole thing was a bit of a cluster-fuck, and have vowed never allow us to be this unprepared again.

So the question that came up in this evening's planning meeting: should we re-vote.  Here is the thought process.  We designed a poor ballot and voting process.  Why?  It was due mostly to time.  The members of our group didn't make this enough of a priority before the meeting.
I think that by admitting the mistakes publicly, posting the new changes, and allowing for membership commentary, these steps would have a positive effect.  Then, we have a re-vote based on the new procedures.

The other camp suggested that we should keep the results as they are, and have another vote to fill remaining seats (not all seats were filled by the first vote).  Of course, this brings up fairness issues all around (in my mind).  The basic feeling among others in the group was that by having a re-vote, that would disenfranchise those who took the time to vote the first time.  The argument also suggests that because there was a problem with the first vote, that the membership would become distrustful of the leadership.
  
Are Americans that lazy and fragile?  Wouldn't the population be appreciative of a government (or club) that could admit to a mistake and take actions to correct it?  I think it would be refreshing for the powers-that-be to show some humility and re-vote.

So what is more representative of democratic, grass-roots action?  Is it good enough to make the changes and move forward, or make the changes and re-vote?

Anyone from the Florida Democratic Party wanna field this one? :)

1 comment:

wayloopy said...

you must be one of those crazies who wants a revote in florida or michigan [snark]