Residents will vote on four ballot measures this fall, including whether to remove a section of the Haines Borough Charter that mandates election candidates must receive at least 40 percent of the vote to be seated.
Measure 1 will ask voters if they want to remove the “40-percent rule” from borough’s charter. The rule requires assembly candidates to receive at least 40 percent of the vote to be seated, otherwise the borough must hold a run-off election.
The assembly voted 4-2 to put the measure on the Oct. 7 ballot. Assembly members George Campbell and Jerry Lapp were opposed.
Campbell said he was comfortable with the existing system and didn’t like the idea of a candidate winning a seat with a low percentage of voter support. “I want to see more than 12 to 13 percent of the vote seat someone at the table here,” Campbell said.
Campbell said he would be willing to pay for run-off elections to ensure winners earn 40 percent of the vote.
The 40-percent clause became problematic last year when the borough switched from a seat-system to roster ballot. The previous system pitted candidates against one another for specific seats. Under the new, roster method, candidates winning the highest number of votes are awarded seats that are available in a given election.
When two or even three candidates were running against each another for one seat, it was a lot easier to secure 40 percent of the vote. Now, with five candidates running against each other for two seats, the math gets trickier.
Under a system adopted by the Haines Borough previous to last October’s municipal election, 40 percent is calculated by dividing the total number of votes cast for all candidates by the number of open seats. For example, if 1,000 votes are cast in the election, a candidate needs only to receive 40 percent of 500 to be seated (1,000 divided by two). That makes it easier to secure 40 percent.
Assembly member Debra Schnabel, who advocated for the roster system and supports eliminating the 40-percent rule, said every community that has adopted a roster method removed their 40-percent rule.
There is precedent, Mayor Stephanie Scott agreed. “We’re following suit, in a way,” Scott said.
According to clerk Julie Cozzi, even if voters elect to dump the 40 percent rule in October, the change won’t affect this year’s election for several reasons. Mainly, charter changes can’t go into effect for 30 days.
The change would affect the 2015 elections.
The assembly also voted last week to remove the “40-percent rule” from code. That ordinance will take effect only if the ballot measure passes.