This opinion piece by Randy Schultz is a good explanation of how Palm Beach County and Broward County Board of County Commissioners evade accountability to masses of voters.
In “Voters Need More Say on Choosing County Commissioners,” Schultz explains that the reason voters have diminished power is due commissioners being elected from single-member districts.
By separating voters into districts, commissioners from one district can vote with big special interests on issues that impact voters in all the other districts, yet they never have to worry about being voted out of office by those voters.
This process, instituted for ostensibly carving out and insuring representation for voters of color, happens to also benefit the interests of big money, especially developers.
“Not so long ago, commissioners couldn’t hide from controversial votes. Until 1990, Palm Beach County elected all commissioners countywide. The southwest-county condo communities were a political force, especially against big developments — even though the residents lived in big developments,” wrote Schultz.
He continued:
“Developers and their allies then dominated the Economic Council of Palm Beach County. The council proposed expanding the commission from five members to seven, and electing all from single-member districts. The council pitched the idea as a way to draw a district from which an African-American could win. All commissioners were white.
“In fact, the goal was to dilute the power of those condo voters. It worked. The new commission, more development-friendly, ran off the county administrator who had been hired to enforce the Growth Management Act. Palm Beach County‘s population went from 863,000 in 1990 to 1.3 million in 2010.
“And, yes, the commission got an African-American in the new District 7. For 24 years, the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners never has had more than that one African-American. Few minorities even have run in the other six districts.”
Pictured: The 2020 Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners
One example of the power of the single-member district process to ignore angry voters without fear of backlash is the story of the Loxahatchee Groves community, which lost its fierce fight to prevent the mega development previously know as Minto West.
This excellent article on the impact of single-member district elections on local communities is as relevant today as it was in 2014. Read full article