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by Marie Puleo | Pompano Beach News Reporter

Pompano Beach voters have decided overwhelmingly against three proposed changes to their local elections.

According to the Broward County Supervisor of Elections, the unofficial results of Tuesday’s referendum, with all of the city’s 38 precincts reporting, show that the three amendments, while supported by most city commissioners, were not popular with Pompano Beach voters.

Had they been passed, the three proposed amendments would have moved city elections to March, doubled the length of city commissioner terms and staggered the years the commissioners’ elections were held.

CITY AMENDMENT RESULTS

The first question on the ballot was whether all future municipal elections should be moved from November to the second Tuesday in March. Out of the 14,007 votes cast, 9,196 voters (65.65%) were against the change, and 4,811 voters (34.35%) were in favor of it.

The second question asked if the two-year terms that city commissioners serve should be increased to four-year terms. Out of the 14,109 votes cast, there were 10,001 ‘no’ votes (70.88%) and 4,108 ‘yes’ votes (29.12%).

The third proposed change was to stagger the terms of city commissioners. Currently, the city elects its commissioners all at once. The proposal was defeated with 8,857 votes (63.43%) against it, and 5,106 (36.57%) in favor of it, with a total of 13,963 votes cast.

The City Commission voted last July to place the three issues on the ballot. The issues had to be decided by voters in a referendum because they involve amending the City charter. Each of the proposed charter amendments could have stood alone and been enacted if approved by a majority of the voters.

Instead, several local groups came out against the amendments, some claiming a ‘no’ vote would help to curb development in Pompano Beach. Although not technically accurate, the message seemed to resonate with Pompano Beach voters.

Former City Commissioner Barry Dockswell and Citizens for a Better Pompano Beach also campaigned against the amendments and laid out the reasoning in e-mails and a letter to the editor. Pompano! Magazine editor-at-large and columnist Jeff Levine offered similar rationale opposing the changes.

Yesterday, Pompano Beach voters seemed to agree and the amendments were resoundingly defeated.

Additional reporting by our Pompano Beach News Desk.

For more Pompano Beach news and things to do in Pompano Beach read Pompano! magazine and search our website.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_gallery interval=”3″ images=”9961,9967″ img_size=”full”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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This post was prepared by staff at Point! Publishing. For inquiries call 954-603-4553.

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