00:00Today, I'm going to tell you about an election in Los Angeles that you might not have heard of.
00:04It is a special vote to decide whether property owners are going to pay 120% more in fees for
00:11street lighting. LA has a huge problem with street lights at the moment. Copper wire thieves
00:15are stealing the cables, leaving entire neighborhoods dark. Plus, the city wants to
00:20meet its green energy goals, so it wants to install solar-powered street lights to replace
00:25some of the regular ones. The city is asking property owners to participate in a special
00:30kind of election called the Proposition 218 election. And even though election day was
00:35June 2nd, the rules for this election are rather different than the rules for the infamous California
00:40primary. First of all, you have to own property to vote, and it doesn't help if you're a tenant
00:45in someone else's property. You have to be the owner. It's a qualified franchise, the kind of
00:50voting that America phased out in the 19th century. Second, you have to have your ballot in by election
00:57day. Even though it's a vote-by-mail election, they do not accept ballots that come in after election
01:03day, even if they're postmarked before or on election day. Imagine that. You have to vote by
01:08election day. What a concept. Third, you get more votes if your property is bigger. It's more like a
01:15shareholders vote. And finally, the count doesn't happen in the constantly public, constantly rolling
01:22way that sees leads change hands all the time. The count is happening behind closed doors, and the
01:27city will unveil the results on June 26th. A very different kind of election in LA, and one that could
01:34affect the cost of living for many years to come.
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