A proposal to adopt weighted voting in the Yates County Legislature appears to lack enough support to pass.
Under weighted voting, instead of each legislator having a single vote, legislators’ votes would be proportional to the population of their districts, so legislators in larger communities would have more power than those in smaller communities. That idea’s not going over well with smaller Yates County communities. The state is mandating that counties redraw their district lines in the wake of the 2020 census. Yates County can keep district boundaries similar to the current ones and adopt weighted voting, or draw district boundaries that make each district roughly equal in population.
Yates County Administrator Nonie Flynn says a legislative committee recommended weighted voting, but she says the plan didn’t get much support when presented to the full legislature.
Many of the legislators from smaller districts resent what they see as state interference in local affairs. Some of them are calling for the formation of a new committee to tackle the issue.
Listen to my full Inside the FLX conversation with Nonie Flynn below.
