By Ellie Brahe
Well the elections are over until 2024. We can now relax. But elections always seem like musical chairs in which someone is left without a chair (position) as they were voted out. It got me thinking of many things. Marco Rubio ran for U.S. Senator from Florida. Since he represents all of Florida, Florida voters voted whether to re-elect him or not. Since he does not represent Georgia, Georgia voters did not vote to elect Rubio. Ralph Massullo was elected State Representative for House District 23 which covers a specific area of Citrus County and a little of Marion County. Voters of this area voted to reelect Ralph Massulo. Dade county voters could not elect Ralph Massulo as they did not live in District 23.
This sounds all confusing. And yet we elect our Commissioners at large. They are required to live in their district (at least after the election) and yet all of Citrus County votes for all 5 commissioners. Recently Diana Finegan won the commissioner district 2 position. She resides in Homosassa which is part of that district. Yet her opponent Paul Grogan lived in Inverness (District 4) but would have moved to Homosassa if he had won the District 2 position. I live in Lecanto and not in Homosassa yet I could also vote for Diana Finegan.
We need to stop the confusion and go to single-member district voting. If I lived in District 1 (for example) then I would only vote for the District 1 commissioner that would then represent the voters of my district. I would not vote for all 5 commissioners. This would be a fairer representation of the local issues of that district. We have elected members of congress and state legislatures from single member districts.
This provides more equity for the voters. You have someone that represents your interest as a region. The elected commissioner is more accountable to his local district instead of diluting his accountability by representing all the voters of Citrus County.
Let's keep things simple. This benefits localized democracy. It allows the elected commissioner to focus on the needs of their localized voters rather than the interest of all.