The problem we have with term limits is that we believe that they are necessary in general, but we clearly also have cases where we need exceptions. But voting position by position, which many times becomes person by person, is ineffective, cumbersome, and will lead to bad cases.
I propose instead that there are no term limits per-se. But for every year an individual has held an office, they need to get an additional 1% of the vote. So someone running for re-election after 4 years needs 54% to win and their opponent only needs 46%.
For the position of coroner, it's quite likely a very qualified individual could get 80% of the vote - so they can hold the office for 30 years. A popular Sheriff could probably get 65-70% of the vote so they could hold office for 15 - 20 years. But for the county commissioners, 12 years would probably be tops as 62% would be hard to get against a compelling opponent.
This is a system that would more closely deliver the true goal of term limits, without forcing out the needed exceptions.
trackbacks: Mudville Gazette, DailyKOS
