There won’t be any questions on the November general election ballots about the South Lawrence Trafficway or tax abatements for senior citizens.

Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday night unanimously voted against conducting what would be a nonbinding referendum on those issues.

“The bottom line for me is that a referendum has a way of flattening complex issues,” Commissioner Charles Jones said.

Commissioner Bob Johnson said he didn’t support the nonbinding referendum voting and thought it demeaned the voting process.

A new political action committee calling itself Kansans for Common Sense and Accountability has been trying to get questions on a ballot that would allow county voters to have their say about whether the eastern leg of the trafficway should be completed along the proposed 32nd Street route, which would take it through a portion of the Baker Wetlands.

“That is the key thing to finding out where the community is” on the issue, said Craig Sundell, the group’s chairman.

In addition, Sundell’s group also wants a question on the ballot that would ask whether senior citizens should be granted some form of tax relief, whether it is a reduction or an abatement.

“If commercial properties can receive them, there is no reason citizens can’t,” Sundell said.

But that isn’t so under Kansas statute, Jones said, noting that the law sets out certain conditions and forms of tax breaks for commerce and industry. He said it would take a constitutional amendment to give seniors the type of tax relief the PAC is calling for.

As for the SLT, commissioners noted that the federal and state governments are involved in the decision process about where the route will be.

Commissioner Jere McElhaney agreed with Jones and Johnson. He said Douglas County residents have a representative form of government to deal with issues and “the citizens have the opportunity to participate all year around.”

Jones also said he thought nonbinding voting led to a “sense of frustration and cynicism” if voters cast ballots on an issue and then nothing gets done.

Jones also was expressing his opinion of a proposal before the city of Lawrence that would allow voters to express their opinion on the Iraq war in a nonbinding general election vote. Representatives from the Lawrence Coalition for Peace and Justice are expected to make the same request of county commissioners.

Jones said he thought it was a detriment to local government to have a debate about matters that it would not normally discuss.

But a referendum vote is a good way to get a larger turnout in a general election and a good way for voters to let local and state governments know what they think of an issue, Sundell said.