Ann Arbor friends: please vote NO on city proposals C and D.
The local League of Women voters has a good press release explaining why, with a longer report attached if you want the details: League of Women Voters of Washtenaw County Opposes Ann Arbor 2024 Ballot Proposals C and D.
Prop D attempts to set up public financing for Ann Arbor city council and mayor races. Like the League of Women voters, I'm in *favor* of public financing, but this is not a serious attempt. It's something that appears to have been developed by people on the losing side of recent elections who have an axe to grind, and went their own way instead of trying to make any kind of coalition with actual advocates or exports on election reform.
Ditto prop C, which makes local mayor and city council elections into a nonpartisan multi-way free-for-all. I'm skeptical of nonpartisan elections, honestly--I think party labels have some value--but I think there are arguments to be made for it. But if you were going to do it right, you'd make it conditional on ranked choice voting, or keep a primary and advance the top two vote-getters to the November election--something to mitigate spoiler effects and assure that the eventual winner has an actual majority. These folks aren't trying to do it right.
The proposals do have some chance of passing, because election day will be the first time a lot of people see them, and they may sound reasonable based on the ballot language itself. So we really do need those "no" votes from everyone else.
Websites from the "vote no" campaigns:
Other references:
- From mlive, Fair Elections Fund proposal in Ann Arbor conflicts with state law, AG’s office says
- From Damn Arbor, Opinion: Against Ann Arbor's nonpartisan and publicly funded election ballot initiatives
- Look up your November ballot at https://mvic.sos.state.mi.us/Voter/Index