Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm
Reporter – News Analyst
March 29, 2021
By now, registered voters in the City of Fernandina Beach should have received their mail ballots for the Special Election to vote up or down the Charter amendments proposed by the Charter Review Committee and approved for voter consideration by the Fernandina Beach City Commission.
The Fernandina Observer, as with all elections, is not making recommendations on any of the amendments. However, for more information on the proposed changes, how and why they came about, we refer you to the Charter Review Committee web page. There you will find copies of the current and proposed Charter language, a PowerPoint presentation explaining the proposals, as well as videos and minutes of the Charter Review Committee meetings.
Some of the changes proposed might appear to be only cosmetic — example, changing “Group” to “Seat.” Others have greater implications for the way the City is governed.
The website also contains the roster of Committee members as well as staff liaison whom you may consider contacting for fuller explanations of any proposed Amendment.
According to the Supervisor of Elections website where you may find all information about elections and voting in Nassau County, there are 11,668 eligible, active voters for this Special Election. Mail ballots were sent to these voters last week. As of today, only 8 ballots have been cast. All ballots must be received by the Supervisor of Elections Office by close of business April 13, 2021.
Remember: Just because you have a 32034 ZIP code does NOT mean that you live in the City of Fernandina Beach!
Only City residents are eligible to vote in this Special Election.
Once again, making recommendations is NOT the same as educating voters as to the consequences of either a yes or no vote. Especially on something like increasing the number of CRA’s that can increase taxes. Which I did not see on the above link in the cleaned version anyway.
I did not request a mail in ballot. I find it illegal to have sent them.
The questions on the ballot sent out are confusing, and some have 3 different questions, that can be answered differently each, in one item to vote on.
#3
#2
#8
and others are confusing, and seem to force a decision, while actually could be answered better if broken down into separate questions.
While I like parts of these multiple itemed questions, this format make me vote NO on the entire question.