The closer the hour draws to this evening’s City Council meeting, the less likely it seems that the once novel voting-by-mail proposition will survive takeoff.
Last heard from, Councilman Jim Clarke was the lone declared backer now that Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells has stated her late-hour objections.
Newest doubting Council member to speak up was Vice Mayor Mehaul O’Leary, he who will be mayor in a fortnight if form and stated policies hold up.
Late this afternoon he indicated he will not vote affirmatively on a motion that may be made by Mr. Clarke at the 7 o’clock meeting in Council Chambers.
Like the mayor, Mr. O’Leary said he has questions after studying the extensive U.C. Davis research on voting-by- mail.
Two of the spotlighted reasons surveyors gave for leaning against a mail vote were that it is more expensive and it does not reliably lead to a spike in turnout. A worrisome number of never-counted votes was another.
Further, voting-by-mail is not popular with the millennials who fall into the 18-to-23 grouping.
Digesting all of that, Mr. O’Leary, an Irish immigrant, offered a fascinating take pregnant with clues to the path he figures to follow.
“Having listened to members of the public, people whose opinions I would trust,” he said, “I am beginning to think I am not qualified to make a decision about changing something that is so American.”
