The Falls

Supermajority requirements for school levies and other tax increases always made me wonder: What is the logic for ignoring the will of a majority that isn’t super?

And doesn’t it somehow skew the principle of one person, one vote, if the side that gets 41 percent of the vote wins?

Washingtonians will be answering this question for ourselves this November, when we vote on a constitutional amendment to toss out the supermajority requirement for school levies. Opponents will have plenty of arguments to make. Among them: We need to make it hard for government to raise taxes or it will start spending our money like an identity thief with a stolen credit card.

Maybe so. Supporters of the supermajority say that it requires school districts to put together solid proposals for more funding – solid enough to persuade 6 out of 10 voters. OK.

But opponents of school levies are not required to be nearly as persuasive. Get a big enough minority, the law says, and you win.

Meanwhile, every vote in the losing majority is devalued.