Neighbors,
Due to the Presidential Election Tuesday, November 5th, City Council will meet Thursday, November 7th at 7pm. Our agenda is brief. City Council also has a special work session Tuesday, November 12th at 7pm to discuss the Arbor South Project and a Michigan Future Inc. Grant Opportunity. Instead of covering these agendas, I'm focusing this email on election information.
I think it's fair to say we are all anxious to see the results of the election Tuesday. It has been an exhausting election season for many reasons, not the least of which is that Michigan is a battleground state for the upcoming presidential election. I don't recall another time in my life when the presidential nominees visited our state so many times. I started this week like many of you, at VP Harris' rally at Burns Park, and ended it with poll greeting and getting out the vote activities. All eyes are on Michigan as evidenced by canvassers I've met that have flown in from other states and the many high profile surrogates stumping for Harris.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez visited Ann Arbor this weekend to get out the vote!
The best cure I know for anxiety is action. Here is what you can still do:
If you haven't voted, VOTE. Many Ann Arbor residents have taken advantage of early and absentee voting. As of Friday, 44% of Ann Arbor's registered voters cast their ballots.
See what is on your ballot and where to vote in person at Vote411.
If you have an absentee ballot you have not yet sent in, you will need to deliver it directly to the clerk's office or drop box location.
If you're not registered to vote, you can register and vote on Election Day at City Hall, and the U-M satellite offices at UMMA and Duderstadt Center from 7am - 8pm. Voters who register on Election Day can receive a ballot and tabulate their vote at the Vote Center after registering to vote. The Vote Centers are only available for voters registering or updating their registered address on election day. Voters must show proof of residency to register within 14 days of an election. Learn more from our Clerk's office.
Encourage others to vote. Sign up to help get out the vote with the Michigan Dems (includes both canvasing and poll greeting).
Lastly, I'm encouraging you to vote no on Ann Arbor Proposals C and D.
Proposal C
The facts: If passed, Proposal C would eliminate Primary elections for City Council and remove partisan labels from the ballot.
Why I encourage you to vote no: Primaries serve an important function in empowering voters to decide their party's candidate before the General Election. Without it, any number of candidates could run in the General Election not only risking vote splitting (ranked choice voting is not yet allowed in Michigan) across progressive Democratic candidates (and a win by someone not favored by the majority of voters), but also handing nomination power to the Washtenaw Democratic Party. As Theresa Reid, Washtenaw County Democratic Party chair, stated in an MLive article, "The county party regularly discusses how it can and should weigh in on elections in Ann Arbor and other local municipalities, but the county party as a whole has less expertise in those elections than local voters in those communities." Partisan labels on ballots provide important information to people as they cast their vote. While I, too, encourage and want everyone to learn as much as they can about candidates before they vote, the fact is that most voters rely on partisan labels as an important indicator of a candidate's values. I spent many hours poll greeting this weekend, and during every shift saw paid poll greeters ensuring that information about partisan endorsements for non-partisan candidates was shared with voters. This was both so that voters knew who had the Democratic endorsement and, perhaps most importantly, to ensure they didn't skip the nonpartisan section of their ballots. Changing Ann Arbor elections to such a system is for the worse, not the better.
Proposal D
The facts: If passed, Proposal D would require (via the City's Charter) for the City to provide for a continuing and non-lapsing Fair Elections Fund with three-tenths of one percent of the City’s general fund (approximately half a million dollars), as appropriated by City Council for the purpose of public financing for participating candidates for City Council and Mayor who voluntarily agree to receive contributions in lower amounts and only from natural persons.
Why I encourage you to vote no: For starters, the Attorney General's office has stated that this Charter amendment is illegal, violating state law. This is because "the amendment requires the city council to appropriate city funds each year, with limited exceptions, to this Fair Election Fund. As such, the proposed amendment would conflict with state law." That means City Council faces a legal battle were Prop D to pass. Secondly, it's an unfunded mandate, which means that it would have to come at the expense of some other city service in the City's budget. What is more, it would cost more than the fund itself, because of the administrative overhead involved (see Denver as an example of the administrative overhead involved in such a program). Lastly, the charter amendment lacks any kind of qualifying threshold that other communities with public funding use in order to ensure that only candidates with some base level of community support receive city funds for their campaigns. I've read advocates for Prop D claim that the City Council could and should create an enabling ordinance to fix these issues. This is misleading, according to a municipal law expert and professor at MSU's Law School (Daniel B. Rosenbaum). In his words, "the proposed amendment itself strongly suggests that Council won’t hold any policymaking authority when implementing it. It mandates annual contributions to the Fair Elections Fund, with an exception only if a supermajority of Council determines under very particular conditions that the City is facing a fiscal emergency. In effect, the proposed amendment would function as a ministerial directive to Council, not a grant of policymaking power, and it would leave Council with very limited discretion with respect to its operation. The amendment’s limits on Council are especially clear when considering the counterfactual. If Council were empowered to set a donation threshold, then Council could easily set a threshold that is unattainable for most candidates, or even for all candidates, which would render the Fund inoperative. As written, the proposed amendment is plainly not intended to give Council this power."
Ward 4 Coffee Hour, November 17th
I will host my next Ward 4 coffee hour on Sunday, November 17 at 11am at York. I hope to see you there!
Please reach out if you have questions, concerns, or thoughts on any of the agenda items. Email: DAkmon@A2gov.org | Phone/text: 734-492-5866
You can also communicate your thoughts via:
Email City Council: CityCouncil@a2gov.org
Comment at the meeting (remote or in person): Call the City Clerk's office at 734-794-6140 beginning at 8 a.m. on the day of the meeting to reserve a public speaking time. NOTE: you do not need to reserve time to speak during a "public hearing (PH)" item.
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