Could Nashville Tweak The Way It Votes?: Charter Changes Offered

NASHVILLE, TN -- Nashvillians could vote on the way they vote under a proposal by a Metro Councilmember filed this week.

Bellevue-area councilman Dave Rosenberg filed three proposed charter amendments which may end up on the ballot in the August election if the Metro Council moves with the necessary alacrity.

The three proposals would establish a line of succession to the mayor's office by creating specific council offices and placing them in a well-defined order, shorten the length of time a district council position can be vacant and, perhaps most revolutionary of all, introduced a new method of voting for special elections.

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Rosenberg said the charges are inspired by the various kerfuffles and confusion in the wake of now-former Mayor Megan Barry's resignation, the succession of then-Vice Mayor David Briley to the mayoralty and a lawsuit that ultimately made its way to the state Supreme Court regarding the date of the special election for mayor.

"I spent an unhealthy amount of time reading the charter as we sought to figure out what exactly our pro tempore's position, title and role is and as the lawsuit progressed. There were some holes that needed to be addressed and some opportunities to insert some clarity," Rosenberg said.

One amendment would simply add the offices of council president pro tempore and deputy president pro tempore to the Metro Charter - those positions exist only in the council's rules of procedure currently - and clarify that those positions succeed to the vice-mayor's position in the event of a vacancy. When Briley became mayor, council president pro tempore Sherri Weiner was sworn in as acting vice-mayor, though she technically remains a simple district council member (and for that matter, under the charter, Briley is both mayor and vice-mayor simultaneously). The charter change would eliminate this complication.

A second change would then put the pro tempore offices into the mayoral line of succession in the event the vice-mayor is unable or unwilling to serve. That amendment also tweaks the amount of time a Metro position can remain vacant. The change would order a special election for a district council member if the vacancy will be longer than six months - that period is currently 12 months. It would also call a special election if there is a vacancy at vice-mayor; currently the charter does not order such an election. It keeps the requisite period for a mayoral special election at 12 months and maintains that at-large councilmembers will not be replaced by special election.

But the biggest change would come in the way Metro holds special elections for district councilmembers and vice-mayor. Currently, those special elections follow the general election rules: to be elected, a candidate must receive a majority of the votes cast and if no candidate does so, a run-off is ordered five weeks later. Rosenberg said these run-offs can cost up to $1 million, requires voters already called to the ballot box once to return and extends campaigns an extra month-plus.

Under his proposal, these special elections would be conducted under the instant run-off or ranked-choice method.

In instant run-off voting, each voter ranks the candidates on the ballot, although there's no obligation to rank more than one candidate. If a candidate receives a majority of No. 1 votes, he or she is elected. If no candidate does so, the candidate with the fewest No. 1 is eliminated and his or her votes are redistributed based on the voters' No. 2 choice. This process repeats until one candidate receives a majority.

A number of cities, including Memphis, use IRV in local elections, in part because it eliminates the expense and inconvenience of a run-off election, which often have low turnout in any case.

Rosenberg's proposal does not implement instant run-off across the board - just for district council and vice-mayor special elections when vacancies occur for whatever reason.

The council's Charter Revision Committee will hear the proposal April 30. It will appear before the council May 1. The council must hold a final vote by June 5 to put it on the August ballot. Two-thirds of the council - 27 members - must approve the changes and then a majority of voters must ratify the amendments in August.

See all three amendmentsat the council office web site.

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