At best it will be inconclusive because it will be unknown what the intent was of each voter when they voted yes or no. Possible intents of Yes votes:
1. Build the deep bore tunnel
2. Have a Public meeting where the Council gives the go ahead after the FEIS
3. Have a public meeting and twist the Councils arm to not give the go ahead.
Possible intents of no votes:
1. No don't build the bored tunnel
2. No more public meetings. Stop wasting time and get on with it.
3. No more voting and wasting dollars on useless votes that cost millions and solve nothing.
Dominic, There were 29,000 signatures to qualify the referendum and well over 21,000 signatures to qualify the initiative. I would say that almost every one of those 50,000-plus Seattle citizens believed they were signing to put the tunnel option on a ballot for a yes or no vote.
For those people to vote no is, as you say, better than nothing, but this complicated nuance of what they would be voting no on is not what the signers intended. That is where the controversy, and, some would say, the injustice lies.
1. Build the deep bore tunnel
2. Have a Public meeting where the Council gives the go ahead after the FEIS
3. Have a public meeting and twist the Councils arm to not give the go ahead.
Possible intents of no votes:
1. No don't build the bored tunnel
2. No more public meetings. Stop wasting time and get on with it.
3. No more voting and wasting dollars on useless votes that cost millions and solve nothing.
For those people to vote no is, as you say, better than nothing, but this complicated nuance of what they would be voting no on is not what the signers intended. That is where the controversy, and, some would say, the injustice lies.