On Nov. 8, Anne Arundel County voters will be asked to vote on six amendments to their County Charter. Our charter revision process needs fixing. Admirably, Anne Arundel’s County Charter counteracts our natural inclinations by mandating a decennial convening of a Charter Revision Commission after the decennial U.S. Census. The following reform would fix the harmful conflicts of interest and poor public deliberation built into the current charter revision system:Allow the County Council to keep its current Charter Revision Commission but alongside that commission create a decennial Citizens’ Charter Reform Jury composed of randomly selected registered voters. Representatives of the County Council’s Charter Revision Commission would be given the opportunity to critique their arguments.

Source: Washington Post October 05, 2016 21:11 UTC