Lansing residents elected nine members to a new commission charged with reviewing the city's governing rules during Tuesday's special election. A crowd of 36 candidates were running for seats on the board.
Those elected include a former state representative, former members of the Lansing City Council and individuals with experience in education institutions and economic development organizations. Two separate coalitions also made endorsements in the race.
WKAR's All Things Considered host Sophia Saliby spoke with Politics and Civics reporter Arjun Thakkar to break down who was elected this week and what their responsibility is for reviewing Lansing’s charter.
Interview Highlights
On voter turnout in the election
Just over 12% of registered voters in Lansing turned out for this week's election. And while that is fairly low, it's kind of expected in the sense that this is a local election and on the ballot, there weren't any of those big-ticket races that typically drive turnout.
On whether endorsements and coalitions impacted the race
It seems like the coalitions may have helped lift some of these candidates, but it's difficult to tell...a lot of these folks are formerly elected officials or are familiar household names here in Lansing.
On what the next phase of charter revision will look like
Their first meeting is in around two weeks on May 21. And they'll have a few action items to to address. The first of those will be electing a chair and vice chair that will lead that nine-member commission. And they'll have around two and a half years to go through the process of leading community engagement, hearing what community members want and ultimately proposing changes to the city charter.
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: Out of a field of 36 candidates, Lansing voters chose nine on Election Day to serve on the city's new charter commission. Those elected will guide the process to revise Lansing's governing document over the next two years. WKAR's politics and civics reporter Arjun Thakkar is here with me now to break down the results. Thanks for joining me.
Arjun Thakkar: Sure. Thanks for having me, Sophia.
Saliby: So who were the candidates that received the most votes? And what do we know about them?
Thakkar: Sure. So, the commission is going to be made up of nine different residents here in the city of Lansing. But it's important to acknowledge that all of the folks that were elected were generally people who've held elected office or have held public facing roles in the city.
We have a few folks who were former city council members, those include Brian Jeffries and Jody Washington, as well as Joan Bauer, who's also a former state representative.
We have some folks who, again, have some statewide experience, statewide government experience. An example is Liz Boyd, who served as a press secretary for Governor (Jennifer) Granholm.
We also have some people who have experience in leadership roles in the city, in different boards and groups in Lansing. Examples of that are Guillermo Lopez with the Lansing Board of Education and Lori Simon, who is leading diversity, equity and inclusion at Lansing Community College.
And we also have Mohammed Qawwee who's a union leader at University of Michigan Health-Sparrow. And we have a few other individuals who have experience in economic development. That includes Jazmin Anderson with the Lansing Economic Area Partnership and Ben Dowd, who's with the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan.
Saliby: A lot of candidates. We also saw two coalitions form at the onset of this race that each ran a slate of candidates. One was supported by Lansing business community, and the other organized against special interests. How did these groups fare ultimately?
Thakkar: One of those coalitions, with the Lansing Regional Chamber-Political Action Committee, they endorsed nine candidates that they supported, and six of those candidates were elected this week.
And the other coalition was the Lansing Community Alliance. And as you said, they were campaigning against special interests. Of that group of nine candidates campaigning together, only Jazmin Anderson was elected. But the group overall did well and did place high on the list of candidates. So it seems like the coalitions may have helped lift some of these candidates, but it's difficult to tell. Because, again, a lot of these folks are formerly elected officials, or are familiar household names here in Lansing.
Saliby: And you mentioned candidates doing well if they weren't elected. How was turnout in general?
Thakkar: In general, turnout was just over 12%. So just over 12% of registered voters in Lansing turned out for this week's election. And while that is fairly low, it's kind of expected in the sense that this is a local election and on the ballot, there weren't any of those big-ticket races that typically drive turnout. So expect more voter turnout at the polls in August and in November with the presidential election and other statewide elections.
Saliby: And when will this commission get started working?
Thakkar: Yeah, their first meeting is in around two weeks on May 21. And they'll have a few action items to address. The first of those will be electing a chair and vice chair that will lead that nine-member commission. And they'll have around two-and-a-half years to go through the process of leading community engagement, hearing what community members want and ultimately proposing changes to the city charter and proposing changes to how the rules of government work in Lansing.
Saliby: Arjun Thakkar is WKAR's Politics and Civics reporter. You can find more of his reporting on the results of Election Day as well as what's next for the charter commission at our website wkar.org.
Thakkar: Yeah, thanks, Sophia.
This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
