Tuesday is Election Day.
Voters in East Lansing and Lansing will take to the polls to decide on some key proposals that could change the way their local governments operate.
WKAR's Megan Schellong sat down with WKAR's politics and civics reporter, Arjun Thakkar to discuss the candidates on the ballot, plus the impact of the issues at stake.
Interview Highlights
On who's running for the East Lansing City Council's three vacant seats
With Mayor Ron Bacon and Mayor Pro Tem Jessy Gregg not running for reelection, we have three seats open on the city council in this election. Voters have a wide range of options to pick from. There are eight candidates on the ballot.
On what revising Lansing's city charter would look like
If a majority of voters vote yes on the question, that means they would approve a rewrite of the city's constitution for the first time in almost 40 years. Through that process, they can make a number of changes, like modifying the government structure or the city council.
On new ways to vote
Polls are already open in East Lansing and Lansing and several other towns. Officials have created early in-person voting centers after following recent changes in state law, so you can check our voter guide or your local city clerk's website for information on where you can vote early.
Interview Transcript
Megan Schellong: On Tuesday November 7th, voters in the Greater Lansing area will go to the polls and weigh in on races that could reshape their local governments.
Several seats on the city councils in Lansing and East Lansing are up for grabs and residents in both cities also have important ballot proposals to consider. WKAR’s politics and civics reporter Arjun Thakkar joins me now to talk about what’s on the ballot in the Lansing area. Thanks Arjun for being here.
Arjun Thakkar: Of course, thanks for having me, Megan.
Schellong: Let’s start with the races in East Lansing. There are three vacancies that need to be filled on the City Council. How many people are running for those positions and who are they?
Thakkar: Right. With Mayor Ron Bacon and Mayor Pro Tem Jessy Gregg not running for reelection, we have three seats open on the city council in this election. Voters have a wide range of options to pick from you know, there are eight candidates on the ballot.
One of them is Noel GarciaJr. He currently holds one of those seats in an interim position. He's s a former police officer who brings a public safety perspective to the council.
There are a couple individuals who've previously served on the council. That's Erik Altmann, who's a faculty member at Michigan State University, and also Mark Meadows, who's had a lot of experience previously serving in elected office, and the others all have some experience working in state or local government.
Just running through them quickly, there is an architect named Dan Bollman who serves on the City Planning Commission, Rebecca Kasen who serves on the city's Human Rights Commission, Joshua Ramirez-Roberts who brings a focus on affordable housing and urban forestry, Kerry Ebersole Singh, who holds a high-profile role in the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. And Christopher Wardell who works for a representative in the state legislature. That's a wide range of experiences and voters essentially get to pick the three candidates on that ballot that they most prefer.
Schellong: They pick their top three. What about in Lansing? There’s a couple of different seats up for grabs on the city council, right?
Thakkar: Yep, that's correct. There are a few different races for the council in Lansing. There's a Ward One race on Lansing's eastside where incumbent Ryan Kost is vying for a full term on the council against Michael VandeGuchte, who's a team leader with Meijer. And there's also a Ward Three race where incumbent Adam Hussain is running for a third term against King Robertson.
And then there's Lansing's at-large race, where there are four candidates who are all kind of familiar names in the city. There's Jody Washington, who previously served on the council until she lost a reelection bid in 2019. Tamera Carter, she's a branch manager at Lake Trust Credit Union. Trini Lopez Pehlivanoglu works for a state department and serves on the city's Board of Ethics. And Missy Lilje is a special education paraprofessional.
Voters in the at-large race can pick two candidates, and that's a lot of candidates that I just went through. I'd really encourage folks who want to know more about those folks to go to our website and read more about them.
Schellong: Now I understand there are also a few ballot proposals for voters to consider in both cities that could reshape the foundation for their local government. In Lansing that comes in the form of a charter revision question. What does that entail?
Thakkar: Right. The ballot in Lansing has the following question on there. Just reading from it, it says, "shall there be a general revision of the Lansing city charter?"
The charter is essentially a local constitution and Lansing's current charter is from 1978. If a majority of voters vote yes on the question, that means they would approve a rewrite of the city's constitution for the first time in almost 40 years. Through that process, they can make a number of changes, like modifying the government structure or the city council.
But that would take a long time, at least three years. And a lot of money would also go in from the city side to make that happen and pay for different administrative costs. So it's really up to voters if they want to bear that cost or if they think the city charter is fine right now as is.
Schellong: And moving into East Lansing now, East Lansing also has three ballot questions, how would those proposals affect the reshaping of the city's government?
Thakkar: One of the proposals is more logistical. It would essentially delay the swearing in date, modifying that for the city council, which city officials say is necessary to comply with state law.
The second proposal is kind of the biggest one I would say it would expand the council from five members, which it currently has, to seven members. Supporters say that would make the group more representative of East Lansing's diversity with more folks on the council, while opponents say it's unnecessary and would put a strain on city resources.
And there's a third proposal that would add support for ranked choice voting in the city. And that's more of a symbolic one, since ranked choice voting is currently illegal in Michigan. And there would need to be a change at the state level for the proposal to make a difference in East Lansing.
Schellong: And Arjun quickly wrapping up here, tell us what options people have to vote.
Thakkar: In a lot of places, the polls are already open in East Lansing and Lansing and several other towns. Officials have created early in-person voting centers after following recent changes in state law, so you can check our voter guide or your local city clerk's website for information on where you can vote early.
You can also vote by absentee either requesting an absentee ballot to you know mail it to your home address or just picking one up in person, and you can mail that in or drop it off at a local dropbox. But again, we're just a few days away from the election.
So if you want to vote absentee, I recommend doing that as soon as possible. Or you can just show up on election day at your local polling place next Tuesday, November 7th.
Schellong: Arjun Thakkar is WKAR's politics and civics reporter. Thanks.
Thakkar: Yeah, thank you Megan.
Schellong: WKAR has produced a voter guide where you can find information about city council candidates and ballot proposals. You can find that guide and more political coverage ahead of the November 7th election at WKAR.org.
