Variations in irrigation district voting and election procedures
Date
2005
Authors
Nelson, David E., author
U.S. Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, publisher
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
Fair and clear voting and election procedures are necessary for an effective water users association, but these procedures have considerable variety. Voting may be limited to owners of irrigated land, or may also include tenants and sharecroppers. Decisions must be made on how voting privileges will be allocated for situations like multiple owners, corporations, municipalities, and lands held in trust. The weight given to each vote is another major consideration. "One person-one vote" is common. Or votes may be proportional to the amount of irrigated land owned or number of shares owned in the corporation. The "one person-one vote" method may lead to unfair domination by small landowners, which in the United States and similar countries may lead to domination by non-farmers. However, voting power in proportion to land owned or shares owned may lead to domination by a few powerful individuals. An example compromise system is irrigation district law in the State of Oregon, USA, which provides for one vote for up to 40 acres (16 hectares), two votes for 40 to 160 acres (16 to 65 hectares), and three votes for more than 160 acres (65 hectares). An example "blended" system generally uses acreage-based voting, but uses "one person-one vote" for "at-large" directors. Elections require procedures on notification, nomination of candidates, maintenance of voter registers, proxy voting, quorums, and conducting the election. Maintenance of secrecy is pretty much essential for effective elections. Where voting power varies with the amount of irrigated land owned or shares owned in the corporation, use of colored ballots representing different numbers of votes can be an effective method of maintaining secrecy.
Description
Presented during the Third international conference on irrigation and drainage held March 30 - April 2, 2005 in San Diego, California. The theme of the conference was "Water district management and governance."