Resolution on voting procedures to Feb 7 council meeting
Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 1:32 pm
Colleagues,
I am bringing forward a resolution for February 7 that calls for the City Manager and the City Clerk to explore best practices regarding municipal bodies’ voting procedures.
My thanks to Mayor Adler and Council Member Kitchen for joining me in this effort and I welcome anyone else who would like to sign on.
At our last Council work session of 2018, we discussed options from staff regarding potential new procedures for Council meetings, including electronic voting – a recommendation of the Community Engagement Task Force that Council created in 2015.
Over the holiday break, I heard informally from folks that electronic voting, or another type of voting procedure, would provide a reliable, real-time mechanism for conveying vote results to the public. As well, the Clerk would have the information readily available for record-keeping purposes.
As I began drafting the IFC, my staff viewed council meeting videos from a handful of Texas cities, and found electronic voting used in the cities of San Antonio, Fort Worth, El Paso, and Plano. The Dallas City Council largely relies on voice votes but turns to electronic voting as needed – such as when a split vote is anticipated.
I am especially impressed with the public-facing vote results that electronic voting provides.
A quick look at voting procedures in a couple of cities outside of Texas showed those entities relying on roll call votes.
Of course, this was not a lengthy and scientific study, but it was enough to convince me that we should ask staff to explore options and best practices for our voting procedures.
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 112415.pdf
Thanks,
Leslie
I am bringing forward a resolution for February 7 that calls for the City Manager and the City Clerk to explore best practices regarding municipal bodies’ voting procedures.
My thanks to Mayor Adler and Council Member Kitchen for joining me in this effort and I welcome anyone else who would like to sign on.
At our last Council work session of 2018, we discussed options from staff regarding potential new procedures for Council meetings, including electronic voting – a recommendation of the Community Engagement Task Force that Council created in 2015.
Over the holiday break, I heard informally from folks that electronic voting, or another type of voting procedure, would provide a reliable, real-time mechanism for conveying vote results to the public. As well, the Clerk would have the information readily available for record-keeping purposes.
As I began drafting the IFC, my staff viewed council meeting videos from a handful of Texas cities, and found electronic voting used in the cities of San Antonio, Fort Worth, El Paso, and Plano. The Dallas City Council largely relies on voice votes but turns to electronic voting as needed – such as when a split vote is anticipated.
I am especially impressed with the public-facing vote results that electronic voting provides.
A quick look at voting procedures in a couple of cities outside of Texas showed those entities relying on roll call votes.
Of course, this was not a lengthy and scientific study, but it was enough to convince me that we should ask staff to explore options and best practices for our voting procedures.
http://assets.austintexas.gov/austincou ... 112415.pdf
Thanks,
Leslie