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Thursday, July 14, 2016
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
NEWS
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SUMMER LOVIN
City Council votes
to put election reform
on November ballot
Ann Arbor residents
will vote on proposal
to extend city
council term limits
By BRIAN KUANG
Summer Daily News Editor
In
November,
Ann
Arbor
residents will vote on a ballot
measure that would extend the
terms of city councilmembers and
the mayor to four years — with the
goal of boosting voter turnout in
local elections — following a 7-4
vote by City Council Wednesday
evening.
However, a parallel resolution
seeking to overhaul municipal
elections
into
non-partisan
blanket primaries — where party
identification would not be listed
for candidates — failed in a 7-4
vote.
The
two
resolutions
were
introduced
for
debate
by
Council with the intention of
comprehensively reforming
local
elections
to
boost
sagging voter turnout.
Currently, the mayor and
each
city
councilmember
must run for re-election every
two years, with five council
seats up for election in any
given year. Because there are
no high-profile, top-ballot
races — such as presidential
or congressional campaigns
— in odd-numbered years,
voter
turnout
in
August
primary elections are often
half of even-year numbers,
and
odd-year
November
turnout can be as low as one
quarter of the corresponding
even-year.
By extending terms of office
for city councilmembers and the
mayor, half of council would be
up for re-election every two years
during a high-profile general
election that would drive turnout
for down-ticket races.
Furthermore, many municipal
races
are
not
meaningfully
contested in November due to
Ann Arbor’s partisan election
system, which is only used by two
other cities in Michigan.
To be on the November ballot,
candidates for city office must win
either the statewide Republican
or Democratic primary election
in
August,
unless
they
are
independent.
However,
given
the demographic makeup of Ann
Arbor, no candidate has sought
election to municipal office as
a Republican in Ann Arbor for
over a decade, meaning many
races are simply uncontested in
November. City Councilmember
Jane Lumm (I–Ward 2) remains
the sole non-Democrat on City
Council.
If a non-partisan election
were to be adopted, then the top
two receivers of votes in each
August primary race would
be guaranteed to advance to
the November ballot, even if
it would mean two Democrats
would face against each other.
Councilmember
Sumi
Kailasapathy
(D–Ward
1)
supported putting the non-
partisan election proposal to the
November ballot, saying party
labels in municipal elections
often
project
inaccurate
impressions
of
individual
candidates to voters.
However,
other
councilmembers,
including
Mayor
Christopher
Taylor,
argued
party
labels
still
played an important role in
informing voters on the values
of
candidates.
Furthermore,
Taylor said the lack of viability
for Republican candidates in Ann
Arbor is due to the ideological
makeup of the city and not a
result of any flaw in the city’s
election system.
The
extended-term
ballot
proposal was approved 7-4 with
Councilmembers Lumm, Eaton,
Kailasapathy
and
Graydon
Krapohl
(D–Ward
4)
voting
against,
while
the
parallel
resolution seeking to overhaul
municipal elections into non-
partisan blanket primaries failed
7-4 with only Councilmembers
Kirk
Westphal
(D–Ward
2),
Lumm, Chuck Warpehoski (D–
Ward 5) and Kailasapathy voting
in favor.
Regarding
term
limits,
Councilmember
Sabra
Briere
(D–Ward 1) argued that even-
year elections would not only
exclusively
improve
voter
turnout,
but
longer
terms
increase continuity of leadership
and allow councilmembers to
pursue longer-term agendas.
Councilmember
Jack
Eaton
(D–Ward 4) countered Briere’s
point, saying that more frequent
elections for city office would
force councilmembers to be more
accountable to their constituents
and engage the public more
frequently. Eaton also argued that
even though turnout is higher in
even-year elections, many voters
in those elections simply vote
along party lines without fully
understanding city issues, while
voters in lower-turnout odd-
years would be better engaged in
local issues.