A group of Ypsilanti residents have appeared to have gathered enough signatures to place a charter amendment on the November ballot eliminating the partisan primary for city races.
The proposal would do away with the primary and instead place all candidates on the same ballot without party affiliation. The group Ypsi BIG gathered the signatures for the initiative.
Organizer Em Hoepner says the change would increase participation. She says with only Democrats tending to file for office, the low-turnout primary becomes the de facto general election.
“Which, essentially, means that that group of people vote for who ends up winning in the fall because then everyone else whose comes to the ballots in the fall has one option.”
Ypsilanti 2nd Ward Councilman Patrick McLean strongly opposes eliminating the partisan primary. He says it would deprive voters of basic information regarding a candidate’s party affiliation and could lead to extremists getting elected with a small plurality of the vote.
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