The Presidential Election is just around the corner. In the Falls Church ballot there is a section with lengthy questions and they need explaining.
The 2016 Falls Church ballot has four sections, the list of the candidates running for President and Vice President, list of the Members of the House of Representatives, the Proposed Constitutional Amendment questions, and the questions about the Referendum authorizing issuance of bonds for a Public Library including an Archive/Heritage center.
In the section of the Proposed Constitutional Amendments, the questions can be confusing to some and be too lengthy to read.
The first question is,
“Should Article I of the Constitution of Virginia be amended to prohibit any agreement or combination between an employer and a labor union or labor organization whereby (i) nonmembers of the union or organization are denied the right to work for the employer, (ii) membership to the union or organization is made a condition of employment or continuation of employment by such employer, or (iii) the union or organization acquires an employment monopoly in any such enterprise?”
Translation: Overall, the amendment is proposing to make it illegal for employers to make it mandatory for workers to be members of a union.
The second question is,
“Shall the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to provide an option to the localities to exempt from taxation the real property of the surviving spouse of any law-enforcement officer, firefighter, search and rescue personnel, or emergency medical services personnel who was killed in the line of duty, where the surviving spouse occupies the real property as his or her principal place of residence and has not remarried?”
Translation: The question is asking if you are the wife or husband of a officer, firefighter, etc and your spouse is killed in duty, you would not have to pay property tax for the rest of your life.
In the last section of the ballot, which is only for Falls Church City voters, there is only one question:
“Shall the City of Falls Church, Virginia, be authorized to contract a debt and issue its general obligation bonds in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed Eight Million Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars ($8,700,000.00) for the purpose of paying the costs incident to constructing, expanding, renovating, reconstructing, replacing in one or more locations, equipping and/or re-equipping, in whole or in part, a Public Library including an Archive/Heritage Center, and shall Ordinance No. 1960 of the City authorizing the issuance of such bonds be effective?”
Translation: Falls Church is proposing to spend $8.7 million to expand or renovate certain projects in the city, such as the Mary Riley Styles Public Library.
Those are all of the wordy and lengthy questions on the 2016 Falls Church Ballot. Also, do not forget to vote in The Lasso mock election.
