Pictured in Bronson Park on June 17, Jeff Messer collects signatures for an effort to bring the option of Ranked Choice Voting to Kalamazoo.

KALAMAZOO, MI -- A petition drive is under way to change the way Kalamazoo voters decide who is elected to office, through the use of ranked choice voting.

Volunteers have been collecting signatures for the effort in recent months in Kalamazoo, and they are preparing for a push to place the issue on the November ballot to ask voters to weigh in.

Former Kalamazoo city Commissioner Jack Urban spoke at the Kalamazoo City Commission meeting Tuesday, July 5, to explain why he supports ranked choice voting and why it should be an option for voters in November.

“I want to find another way — some way to reduce the polarization in this country,” Urban said. “I want voters to consider an alternative means of measuring preferences for candidates that is more nuanced than victory or banishment.”

The method of voting we have now does not allow voters to rank their choices and have it affect the outcome, he said.

“If the ballot doesn’t allow you to express your opinion for all candidates, then the outcome will be determined without that information, from you or from any other voter,” Urban said.

With ranked choice voting, the election system would factor in information about voters’ other candidate preferences to determine the outcome, he said.

According to the group, Ranked Choice Voting ballots are counted in a series of rounds.

First, all the first choices are counted; if any candidate has a majority of votes, (more than 50%) that candidate wins. Otherwise, the last place candidate (the candidate with the fewest votes) is eliminated and any votes cast for that candidate are transferred to the voter’s next preference (if the voter chose to rank more candidates).

After each round of counting, checks are made to see if any candidate has won a majority. If not, again, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and there is another round of counting. Candidates continue to be eliminated after each count until one candidate has won the majority, Rank MI Vote said.

Urban was first elected to the Kalamazoo City Commission in 2013, and reelected in 2017. He announced in 2021 his decision not to run for reelection as a city commissioner.

“If you’d like to see the option of moving to ranked choice voting in city elections be put on the ballot in November, sign the petition Jeff Messer is circulating and others so that voters may consider it,” Urban told city leaders and residents Tuesday.

Messer also spoke at the meeting.

The Kalamazoo petition drive now has about 1,400 signatures toward a goal of 3,000 by the end of this month, Messer said. He has collected 344 signatures himself, Messer said. Volunteers are being invited from out of town to help with door-to-door canvassing in the Winchell and Westnedge Hill neighborhoods on the weekend of July 16.

Ben Quartey, of Kalamazoo, also volunteers to collect signatures. He and others have been asking for them at events such as Lunchtime Live and the Kalamazoo Farmers Market.

“Being able to choose whoever I want even though it’s not the most popular candidate without having to worry about wasting my vote is very powerful,” Quartey told MLive/Kalamazoo Gazette.

A man prepares to disinfect a voting booth at City Hall in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. Joel Bissell

If enacted, those elected to office would have to receive a vote majority, according to Rank MI vote.

It would also incentivize candidates on talking about their platform and the issues they stand for, Quartey said, rather than talking about why voters should not vote for another candidate.

State law would also have to change before cities can implement ranked choice voting.

Voters approved Ranked Choice Voting in Ann Arbor in 2021, and the city charter will be amended to stipulate future city elections must be conducted using ranked-choice voting once authorized by the state.

In 2019, the city of Eastpointe, Michigan, made history after it held its first citywide election using ranked-choice as the result of a settlement with a federal court, which allowed it to bypass the state law impeding other Michigan cities from implementing it.

Organizers are focused on Kalamazoo currently, he said, and they would like to push for statewide legislation in the future. Learn more at www.rankmivote.org.

Legislation would allow ranked-choice voting in Michigan. In one city, it’s already happening.

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