03/30/2009: "378 Votes To Keep, 7 Votes To Move Dump"

The County Council will hold a public hearing Tuesday, March 31, at 1:30 p.m. in the County Legislative Building (55 2nd St.) to take public testimony on, and “consider possible alternate location” for, a transfer station on San Juan Island.

The Council has already received the results of what may be the most lopsided vote every recorded in the county: the total votes in The Island Guardian email vote on "Keep The Dump or Move The Dump??", have a clear majority of voters who say “Keep it” where it is.

Anyone with access to the internet was able to cast a vote by emailing in their vote, and each email was logged in and labeled with the senders name. The naming was a way of keeping track of the votes to insure those who like to flood a total count by repeated voting, were unable to do so.

The other lopsided response was from those who wrote Letters To The Editor . Again the results were overwhelming in favor of not moving the transfer site.

Copies of the emails and the letters have been forwarded to the County Council as part of the official record.

Will the vote have an impact on the Council’s decision? Perhaps, and then again, based on past experience, maybe not.

Many still recall the advisory vote the County Commissioners sponsored on the Guest House issue. After the vote came in at 73.5% in favor of allowing guest houses, a number of the commission members said the public did not understand what they were voting for, and dismissed the results.