I generally do not write about politics but I wanted to share a recent experience. I was reviewing a sample ballot ahead of tomorrow’s election. On the ballot is “Proposition A” which proposes to limit the “term of office” to “three years” and limit a person to “no more than nine years”. If you are a person who believes in term limits, this sounds good. The trick is that there’s no mention of the current state. Without context there’s no way to know that with this proposition, they are increasing the term of office from two years to three years… a 50% increase. Likewise with one stroke the overall limit goes from 6 years to 9 years. The bottom line is that you have to do your research. You cannot wait until you are at the polls to decide. It requires some homework. No doubt the authors of the proposition are counting on people to not do their homework and are functionally reversing the will from the previous election.
Update: The Proposition passed. I applaud Ballotpedia for being much more transparent than whoever got the item on the ballot in their description:
https://ballotpedia.org/Arlington,Texas,_Proposition_A,_Mayoral_and_City_Council_Term_Limits_Charter_Amendment(November_2022)
