Title: A More Democratic Way of Electing Ann Arbor’s City Council

Thesis:

To make Ann Arbor’s city council elections more democratic, we suggest adopting Louisiana’s
model of replacing the August primary with a single November general election where the
candidate must receive at least 50% of the vote. This would allow for greater student
participation in local politics and make City Council truly representative of Ann Arbor.

Background:

The city of Ann Arbor is overwhelmingly homogeneous when it comes to political ideology.
Washtenaw County is ranked as the most Democratic in the state of Michigan, with Democratic
votes outnumbering Republican votes by 43 percentage points in 2018 statewide races.¹ This
trend is reflected in the make-up of Ann Arbor’s ten member city council, which is currently
composed of nine Democrats and one Independent.² City council elections are ultimately
determined in the August primary rather than the November general election, which means the
primaries have become the more contentious race.

One shortcoming of this system is that students from the University of Michigan are largely
excluded from the August primaries. The combined population of undergraduate and graduate
students at the University is 43,810, but the vast majority of students are not on campus until
September.³ While voter turnout is higher in the general election across all wards of the city,
rates are extremely disparate in precincts with high student populations. For example, Ward 4,
Precinct 1, which contains an over 1000-student residence hall, saw a turnout of only 6.75% in
August compared to 30.43% in November.⁴ Moving the city council elections would make the
system more democratic by allowing more students to participate in local politics. This policy
would make voting easier for all city residents by reducing the race to a single election and could
help break out of the system of rigid party politics.

Policy idea:

We propose modeling Louisiana’s format for state and local elections, commonly known as
Cajun primaries, for Ann Arbor’s city council elections. 10 All city council candidates would run in
an open general election in November, meaning every candidate gets on the ballot, no matter
their party affiliation. If a candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, they win the seat outright.
If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates move on to a run-off
election in December.

Policy analysis:

Elected officials need to represent the values and desires of their constituents. When primaries
are held in August, a large part of the constituency is unable to vote in person. By moving it to
November, students registered to vote in Ann Arbor will be able to vote on campus. Voter
turnout has already increased dramatically among UM students, from 14% in 2014 to 41% in
2018.⁵ Students are equally impacted by city council decisions, which is why the races should be
more competitive when students actually have an opportunity to vote in person in November.

This will also make the elections more competitive — currently, the Democratic candidate who
wins the primary is essentially guaranteed to win in the general election, as a Republican has not
served on city council since 2005.6 However, with our proposal, Democratic candidates will no
longer be guaranteed to win based solely on their party and will instead need to secure over 50%
of the voters.

While the Louisiana Plan would largely benefit students, overall turnout would also improve
because the plan requires only one election day.7 Working class residents would have fewer
barriers to enfranchisement with this policy. Two election days can force workers to take
multiple hours or days off, a luxury unavailable to many low-income and hourly employees.

The Ann Arbor City Council recently rejected a proposal to add a referendum that would make
primary elections nonpartisan in a 7-4 decision. This suggests the Council may be resistant to
change, but the majority’s main concern is that party identification is essential to transparency
in elections.8 Our proposed system would not eliminate party labels, but would instead simply
increase the number of candidates running for each seat. This system incorporates the benefits
of a more competitive race and preserves the transparency of party labels.

Talking points:

1. Primaries currently take place when students and faculty at the University of Michigan
are on summer break so many of them are not able to be present for the primary
election.
2. Ann Arbor is overwhelmingly blue, so the candidate who wins the primary election in
August is more than likely to win the election in November and secure a seat on the
council without the voices of the Ann Arbor community connected to the University of
Michigan.
3. This primary style will ensure fair representation throughout Ann Arbor as city council
officials will either win a runoff or secure 50% of the vote as an individual rather than as
the sole representative of their party.

Key facts:

1. On the University of Michigan’s campus, voter turnout tripled among students in

midterms, from 14% in 2014 to 41% in 2018.⁵ Students want to be heard, and will vote in
November elections.
2. Ann Arbor City Council is made up of nine Democrats and one Independent.²
3. Ward 4, Precinct 1, which encompasses an over 1000-student residence hall, saw a
turnout of only 6.75% in August compared to 30.43% in November.⁴

Implementation plan:
We will nullify section 13.4 of the Ann Arbor City Charter. To do this, we will craft a petition and
file it in-person at Larcom City Hall with the City Clerk, Jacqueline Beaudry. There must be a
total sum of signatures greater than or equal to 5% of registered voters in the City when the
petition is filed. If signatures are more than a year old or appear more than once, they will not be
counted. While the filing deadline for petitions is the 12 weeks before the election, this would
not allow adequate time for certification which can take up to 45 days. 9 Tuesday August 11th,
2020 is 12 weeks before election day, so June 27th, 2020 is the day we would need to file our
petition by to be voted on in 2020.

Action plan snapshot:

We plan on reaching out to Mayor Chris Taylor and city council members Jeff Hayner and Jane
Lumm for initial meetings. These elected officials are known for being more progressive than
their colleagues and favoring nonpartisan elections. With their assistance, we will craft a
petition and begin collecting signatures, keeping in mind the strict city guidelines for
formatting. The petition will need to be completed and filed by June 27th, 2020 in order to be
properly reviewed and considered. We will start by encouraging students to sign as they have a
direct stake in local elections. Members of our policy group plan to host tabling events and reach
out to other progressive student organizations on campus, such as College Democrats and
Michigan Foreign Policy Council, to aid with increasing awareness about our proposed policy.

This policy is incomplete without an accompanying educational program. If the policy is passed,
we will post and distribute flyers informing students about the new election system. In addition,
we will direct students and citizens to websites containing information on candidates’ platforms
so they can make informed voting decisions.
 Endnotes

1. Mack, Julie. “Michigan Counties Ranked from Most Democratic to Most Republican.”
mlive, November 28, 2018. https://www.mlive.com/news/erry-
2018/11/9de851d6342566/michigan-counties-ranked-from.html.

2. “City Council.” City of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Accessed November 26, 2019.
https://www.a2gov.org/departments/city-council/pages/home.aspx.

3. “Facts & Figures.” University of Michigan, July 2019. https://umich.edu/facts-figures/.

4. “August 7, 2018 State Primary Election.” Election Results. Washtenaw County, August
15, 2018. https://electionresults.ewashtenaw.org/electionreporting/aug2018/index.jsp.

5. “U-M Student Voter Turnout Triples in 2018.” University of Michigan News, October 4,
2019. https://news.umich.edu/u-m-student-voter-turnout-triples-in-2018/.

6. “Ann Arbor.” Ann Arbor LocalWiki, November 4, 2015. https://localwiki.org/ann-

arbor/Ann_Arbor_City_Council_Membership:_Modern_Era?&redirected_from=ann
arbor city council membership.

7. “What Affects Voter Turnout Rates.” FairVote. Accessed November 26, 2019.
https://www.fairvote.org/what_affects_voter_turnout_rates.

8. Llanes, Caroline. “Ann Arbor Voters Won't See Proposal to End Nonpartisan Voting on
2019 Ballot.” Michigan Radio, July 16, 2019. https://www.michiganradio.org/post/ann-
arbor-voters-wont-see-proposal-end-nonpartisan-voting-2019-ballot.

9. “Filing Petitions.” City of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Accessed November 26, 2019.
https://www.a2gov.org/departments/city-clerk/Elections/Pages/Filing Petitions for
City Office.aspx.

10. FairVote.org. “Louisiana's Cajun Primary: An Innovative Primary Undone by Electoral

Stagnation.” FairVote. FairVote, November 20, 2015.
https://www.fairvote.org/louisianas-cajun-primary-an-innovative-primary-undone-by-
electoral-stagnation.