The tight vote over who would be Wichita’s vice mayor will remain a matter of speculation or insider knowledge. That’s because the ballots used by the city council were blank, asking only that each member write a name down on the sheet. That makes it one of the only instances where the council essentially has a closed vote.
On the first round, three members selected Jim Skelton, two picked Jeff Longwell and two picked Lavonta Williams. On round two, Williams only landed one vote — and Skelton got four.
The voting system city council members voted to buy a couple years ago doesn’t allow unique voting, such as putting a name or word in. It only offers council members a ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ or ‘abstain,’ Mayor Carl Brewer said.
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I’m glad Skelton won. Maybe now we can pay some attention to the hard-working class neighborhoods instead of only Old Town and the suburbs.
Is this not a violation of the Kanas Open Meetings Act? I would think the voting council members would have had to at least initial their ballots.