On July 16th, King County Elections certified to the Seattle City Clerk that the petition drive by Seattle Districts Now successfully submitted enough valid signatures to qualify for City Charter Amendment 19 to be included on ballots for the November 5th, 2013 election.
Seattle Districts Now proposed that Seattle voters elect the Seattle City Council using a system of seven seats to represent seven geographic districts, and two at-large representatives. The current nine council seats are all elected at-large, with costs of at-large campaigns increasing each year. In 2005, a winning Council campaign spent an average of $205,000. By 2011, that average increased to $270,000. At-large candidates need to contact every prospective voter in the City, currently a population of 617,000 people. Under the proposed districts system, candidates would need to reach approximately 88,000 residents – with the elected official answerable to those constituents.
On June 11th, Seattle Districts Now volunteers submitted petitions containing the signatures of 46,633 registered Seattle voters who agreed that this charter amendment should go to a vote. Only 31,000 valid signatures were required to qualify.
Following this certification, the City Attorney must draft a City Council resolution to place this charter amendment on the ballot in November – and the current, sitting City Council must approve it. If the amendment is approved by Seattle voters in November, Charter Amendment 19 would mandate that all nine current Council seats would go up for election in 2014.
Seattle voters have rejected previous proposals to elect all nine City Council members by district, but the Seattle Districts Now proposal differs significantly on two details:
- Seven council seats would be elected from districts, with two remaining at-large
- This charter amendment includes a map of the city divided by district, using state law guidelines, and developed by Richard Morrill, a University of Washington Emeritus Professor of Geography. Under this amendment, this map would be redrawn every ten years.
For more information on this grassroots effort, visit the Seattle Districts Now website. Or read the column on Fremocentrist.com from April 2013.