Winning a Referendum is Harder Than Most Residents Think

Many residents, and even some town officials, are under the mistaken belief that winning a referendum requires a turnout of 25 percent of Fairfield voters and that votes to overturn a decision by the Representative Town Meeting also be a majority of votes cast.

But the 25-percent threshold pertains not to overall turnout but to the number of votes cast in favor of overturning a decision by the RTM.

Judy Ewing, who previously served on Charter Revision Commissions in Fairfield, pointed out the correct criteria for winning a referendum to the media about five years ago, but residents and reporters continue to believe the 25-percent threshold applies to overall turnout.

During the most recent referendum - held last summer on the RTM's decision to approve $350,000 for a girls' Little League field and infrastructure for a park on Hoyden's Lane - some residents who supported the Little League field didn't vote in the referendum for fear they would cause turnout to exceed 25 percent, according to town officials.

In reality, votes by girls' Little League supporters wouldn't have helped the referendum succeed since the 25 percent threshold applied only to residents who wanted to overturn the RTM's decision.

Fairfield Patch ran into Ewing in Old Town Hall on Wednesday afternoon and mentioned how a lot of residents think the 25-percent threshold pertains to overall turnout. Ewing said the belief is compounded when people send out e-mails stating that is the case and the media incorrectly reports that the 25-percent figure pertains to overall turnout.

The most recent e-mail was sent out to supporters of We the People in which Kate Daniello, a co-founder of the group, stated that 25 percent of voters would have to vote in a budget-cutting referendum for it to succeed and that those in favor of the budget-cutting would have to be a majority of votes cast.

Daniello's e-mail, which used figures based off 35,184 voters in Fairfield (the number of voters used in a budget-cutting referendum would be more current) says that winning a budget-cutting referendum would require 8,800 voters to vote in the referendum and that referendum supporters also would have to be a majority of votes cast.

But a successful budget-cutting referendum, or any referendum, in Daniello's example would require 8,800 votes to overturn the RTM's action - not just 8,800 votes overall.

The section of the Town Charter that deals with criteria for a referendum to be successful states:

"Vote necessary to pass referenda. In order to reverse or modify the action taken by the RTM, the vote in favor of reversing or modifying the action must both:

(1) Exceed 25 percent of the total number of electors of the Town eligible to vote as of the close of business on the day before the election; and

(2) Constitute a majority of votes cast on the question."

The key part is "the vote in favor of reversing or modifying the action" in the second sentence.

The criteria for winning a referendum is currently important because Daniello said she and We the People co-founder Bob Forcellina wouldn't try to force a referendum on the Board of Education's proposed budget for the next fiscal year if they didn't think it would be successful. Daniello said holding a referendum costs $20,000.

Before last summer's referendum on the girls' Little League field, Fairfield Patch checked previous Town Charters to determine if the threshold for winning a referendum became harder due to recent revisions to the Charter. But copies of the Town Charter going back 50 years had the same language on the 25-percent figure as the current Town Charter.

A referendum can't be held unless 5 percent of voters sign a petition in favor of one, and referendum supporters would have 14 days from the date of the RTM's vote to submit those petitions to the Town Clerk's Office.