Guest Commentary | Vote NO to single-member districts
Single-member districts reduce voter choice because residents can only vote for one commissioner instead of the entire county commission board.
Opponents in Florida local government debates regarding single member districts use several of the following key arguments below against single member districts:
Loss of voter voice
• No say on most of the board: If a county has five commissioners, you can only vote for the one in your district.
• Decisions affect everyone: The other four commissioners still vote on your tax dollars and county rules, but you had no chance to vote for or against them.
• Reduced power: Your voting power drops from choosing the whole commission to choosing only 20% of it.
Lower accountability
• Answering to a fraction: Commissioners only need to please voters in their district to win re-election.
• Ignoring the rest: They have less incentive to care about issues in other parts of the county.
• Weaker big-picture view: Commissioners may stop looking at what is best for the whole county as a team.
Narrow and selfish politics
• Hyper-local focus: It encourages narrow, back-room trading where commissioners only fight for projects in their own backyard.
• Ignoring neighbors: Commissioners may skip community meetings or forums outside their immediate district lines.
• More division: It can split a county into rival groups instead of uniting the community.
Minority representation concerns
• Diluted influence: Some local minority leaders and civil rights groups argue that at-large voting lets minority communities build countywide coalitions.
• Boxed in: Single-member districts can trap minority voters into a single district limiting their influence over the rest of the commission seats.
State interference
• Breaking local control: State lawmakers often force single-member districts on counties against the wishes of local leaders and existing county charters.
• Ignoring local votes: It overrides the principle of home rule, which lets local communities decide how to run their own elections.
The above situation happened in 2025, 2026. The Lee County Commission’s appointed Charter Review Committee voted 11-1 against single member districts. The committee sent their recommendation to the commission and the charter review committee’s decision was affirmed.
However, a local political candidate consultant and a former state representative who currently serves as the Lee County’s Property Appraiser, button holed, lobbied and exerted undue influence on the Lee Legislative Delegation members and other Lee County elected officials to officially request the Florida Legislature to draft a Special Act, to pass it and enact legislation to place the single member ballot question on the Nov. 3, 2026 general election ballot.
The Florida Legislature in the 2026 Legislative Session passed and enacted a special act for the single members districts question, to be placed on the general election ballot. Question(s) how many members of the Lee Legislative Delegation and or how many local elected officials were clients of the political candidate consultant?
There are 67 counties in the State of Florida. Forty of those counties of various sizes, demographics and populations elect their County Commissioners from at-large districts. Only 27 Florida counties elect their County Commissioners from single-member districts and or from hybrid districts.
Vote No on Nov. 3 to Single-Member Districts, so that your voting power will not be constrained and reduced thereby protecting our voting rights to hold all our Lee County Commissioners accountable and responsible.
Research shows that single member district governing bodies do not operate in a more ethical, efficient or effective manner than At-large governing bodies.
Dr. Steven R. Maxwell of Sanibel is a multigenerational native-born Floridian. He has more than 40 years experience in state and local government, education and radio and television public affairs Broadcasting. Currently, Professor Maxwell teaches American Government at Florida Southwestern State College.