The obvious question before voters will be (from the Town's web site):
Shall the town vote to approve the action of the representative town meeting whereby it was voted to amend the Town Bylaws to prohibit the use of gas-powered leaf blowers on private property between May 15th and October 15th by a vote of 95 in the affirmative to 85 in the negative.Vote Yes to keep the bylaw; No to repeal it.
But there is also another question. Do enough voters care about this issue to overrule Town Meeting?
Under the law, at least 20% of voters registered as of June 28 must vote No (repeal) for the vote to be legally binding. (Yes votes do not count towards that total.)
Twenty percent is about 5,700 votes.
The purpose of this requirement is to protect residents, who elect Town Meeting, from being disenfranchised by a small, if passionate, minority.
Town Meeting has a quorum requirement that serves a similar function there.
Update: Anyone who is still confused about this may want to review the vote Q&A.
I thought it was that a majority had to vote No, and the vote count had to be 20% or more of the town's registered voters. So 10%+1 could vote No, and the ban would be revoked.
ReplyDeleteYours seems to be a persistent misconception. My account of this rule is correct.
DeleteBoth the Secretary of State and Arlington's own Town Counsel have made clear that Yes votes do not apply towards the 20% requirement.
The burden is on the repeal forces for the reasons I detail in my post: to prevent Arlington voters from being disenfranchised by a small but well-organized minority.
Thank you for asking for this clarification--it is why I wrote this post.