Asheville referendum drive may have fallen short

An article in today’s Asheville Citizen-Times reports that Let Asheville Vote, a grassroots group that recently filed 6,192 signatures with a petition seeking a referendum on partisan/nonpartisan voting, appears to have failed to gather the required number of signatures from registered city voters.

The math can be confusing and is still incomplete. 5,000 is the magic number—with even one signature less, the referendum push will be stymied. And while Board of Elections officials said they weren’t done checking every name, already they had disqualified some 1,233 signatures, likely making the tally insufficient.

BOE staff “by late Friday afternoon had checked all but 193 signatures,” the article said. “Election officials had unofficially verified 4,766 signatures and disqualified 1,233, said Trena Parker, director of the Board of Elections.”

LAV organizers haven’t thrown in the towel, and are waiting for the official, final count, which will come later this month. Look for more information about potential Asheville voting scenarios in Wednesday’s Mountain Xpress.

— Jon Elliston, news editor

 

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Jon Elliston
Former Mountain Xpress managing editor Jon Elliston is the senior editor at WNC magazine.

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

4 thoughts on “Asheville referendum drive may have fallen short

  1. Dionysis

    Having read the gloating by ‘Green Wizard’, I fail to see why anyone would (A) try to sabotage a citizen’s initiative like this and (B) be so lame-brained as to brag about it.
    While I do have an opinion about the petition, it isn’t very relevant as I do not live in Asheville. And while I consider myself a ‘green-leaning’ progressive, such childish stunts as Green Wizard engaged in should be repudiated by everyone.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.