Utility didn't want 'no' for an answer

Florida has endured its share of ridicule because of flaws in its voting system. But the election methods being used by the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative make the state's system look like it is state-of-the-art.

When Withlacoochee River Electric decided it wanted to move utility poles from the back yards to the front yards of some older neighborhoods in Spring Hill, it sent ballots to the affected residents - shareholders in the cooperative - and asked them to declare their preference. As it turns out, WREC officials have a peculiar view of the concept of voting.

In WREC's election process, "Yes" means yes, "no" is not an option, and abstaining counts as a "yes" vote.

No doubt, dictators everywhere would embrace an election process that guarantees such a sure-fired outcome.

Called to task by customers in the Spring Hill Golf Club area for that absurd approach, WREC officials were forced to defend themselves at a recent Hernando County Commission meeting. It apparently was too late to debate the need for moving the utility poles and power lines, but the focus shifted - with good cause - to WREC's balloting process. Residents told commissioners there was no place on the ballot to vote "no," and that WREC's rules interpreted every ballot that wasn't returned as a "yes" vote. What's more, WREC customers wondered about the propriety of the utility counting the votes.

Commission Diane Rowden had a good idea on that point. The ballots should be sent by certified mail to each person who has a WREC account. That way, there is a record of how many ballots were sent, how many were returned and what the results were. In addition, those results should be tallied and certified by a third party, perhaps an auditing or accounting firm, at WREC's expense. They should not be submitted to the county government, as Rowden suggested.

Commissioners were told by a WREC official that the ballots now have been altered to provide for a "no" vote. That's an oh-so-generous improvement, but it is meaningless unless WREC changes its policy about interpreting an unreturned ballot as a "yes" vote. That mind-set smacks of banana republic politics and has no place in a process that alleges elections are democratic and not rigged.

The commission left WREC to reassess its balloting flaws. The company should do so, make the necessary changes and return to the commission as soon as possible to assure its customers that the next time the utility asks them to cast a ballot, it will count, or at least not assume their silence is approval.

[Last modified November 19, 2007, 20:40:26]