Three Cities Rehearse a Voting Tool Before the Council Pilots It

Before the Fractal Council pilots its fractal-democracy referendum tool in three member cities later in November, the clerks who will actually run it are rehearsing on live local questions — a park levy in Porto, a curfew ordinance in Medellín, a water-tariff appeal in Valencia. The dry runs, organized quietly by municipal offices rather than the Council itself, are meant to surface failure before the formal pilot rather than after. "A national body announces a tool; a city clerk has to make it not break on a Tuesday," said Valencia elections officer Marta Colom, who ran three thousand mock ballots through the system last week and logged every stall. Turnout in the rehearsals ran higher than officials expected, which cheered and worried them in equal measure. Colom is reserving judgment. "Ask me after real people vote on something they can lose," she said. The pilot proper is still ahead.