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February 2, 2010

Crazy-quilt democracy in action in Tuesday vote on L.A. Unified school reform

Howard Blume:

Voters Tuesday will choose reform plans for 30 Los Angeles-area schools in an election like no other.

For one thing, the voting age could dip to 14. Undocumented residents are welcome. Some people will get multiple votes. Ballot stuffing is expected.

And did we mention that each contestant will actually be competing in seven simultaneous elections? And that the results could be meaningless?

Whoever said democracy is messy could have been thinking of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The subject of the election is singular: Groups inside and outside the school system are competing to run 12 persistently low-performing schools and 18 new campuses. The purpose of the balloting is for different voting blocs to select their favored bidder. Each bloc will be tallied separately, including parents, high school students and school employees.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at February 2, 2010 9:23 PM
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