Amidst all of the hand wringing about the Presidential election, both its process and outcome, we can note that Hudson conducted a little experiment in democratic direct action that at the local level will likely produce interesting positive results in the future. The redistricting campaign Fair & Equal carried out was a thoughtful effort to redraw the city ward boundaries and end the weighted voting system that has given disproportionate power to a handful of councillors (here is my earlier take on this). A number of public meetings were held and some debate in the blogosphere. This discussion focused on the process by which the new ward map had been produced and other substantive issues. It was quite uniformly centered on the principle of one person one vote and the mechanics of the mapping. We saw nothing of the shouting, bullying behavior seen during the Presidential campaign,
The campaign’s work and appeal to one of the basics of our political system, one person one vote, won a decisive victory for reform. The proposal won majority support in every ward in the city. In a cheery note, the voters in the fifth ward where their councillors would stand to loose much of their power also supported this basic principle.