Open Letter to the Burien City Council:

I wanted to reiterate the fact that if the council truly wants to encourage the maximum number of people to vote on the annexation of Area Y, then the vote should be held in November, NOT August.

Holding it in August guarantees a small turnout and minimum voter participation.

Holding it a couple of months later in November guarantees much larger voter participation.

The danger of holding it in August is that minimal voter participation can enable special interest and small vocal minorities to hi-jack democracy in the name of whatever reasons can be drudged up to justify holding an election guaranteed to have a small turnout.

Apparently ALL or MOST of those minority special interests were present at the council meeting on Monday voicing their opposition to larger voter participation and pushing for an August vote.

It is obvious that these special interests are concerned that the election will go against them if the election is held in November, because they cannot be guaranteed as much control since the voter pool would be much larger.

It is reasonable and obvious that holding the election a couple of months later would result in a much more democratic result as the special interests would have less influence on the much larger pool of voters.

What is not obvious is how many members of the council are ok with this. I guess we will find out in the near future whether democracy or cronyism will win out.

I also agree with Ms. Wagner who pointed out that since council member Robison is the acting attorney for the above-mentioned special interests he should recuse himself from the vote.

John Poitras
Burien