Editorial
EDITORIAL: Let voters decide on Huntington council districts
Here we go again: A group of citizens is asking the Town of Huntington to let the voters decide whether to set up a system of equal-population council districts for electing the town council. This time, the issue really ought to be left to voters, not lawyers.
In every town where the issue arises, the party in power - in this case, the Democrats - resists scrapping the at-large system of electing the council. They make airy arguments for the status quo, but the real reason is that incumbents like the idea that running townwide races is tough for challengers. That, of course, is exactly why districts make sense: more chance for new blood - plus more accountability.
In Huntington, there are four council members and the supervisor. Previous reform advocates also wanted to expand it to six council members. That clouded the issue. This time, advocates are pushing only for four council districts. They submitted their signatures yesterday to Jo-Ann Raia, the town clerk, who must decide on their overall validity.
Raia, a Republican in a Democratic town, found the 2005 petitions valid. But they got overturned in court. We hope these petitions pass muster, and that the town council will let Raia make that decision - with the help of a lawyer of her own choosing, if opponents make line-by-line objections.
Huntington is a modern, cosmopolitan town in many ways. It's time its form of government reflected that. hN
