Prop D Election Reform on StL Ballot Nov 3, 2020

quincunx · PostJan 14, 2020#12020-01-14T02:21+00:00

I wasn't aware this was coming.
It would change the primary election to one where you'd vote for as many candidates as you like. The top two vote getters then face off in the general. It would apply to the Aldermen, Pres of the BoA, Comptroller, and Mayor.

https://stlapproves.org/

aprice · PostJan 14, 2020#22020-01-14T03:08+00:00

Why not just ranked voting? Too much work?
Don't tell us that we're too dumb because it works quite well in other cities / states / countries.

Honestly, the biggest change with this wouldn't be the "Mark all you approve", it would be the non-partisan general election. We'd most likely have a different mayor right now if they had just had a run off between the top two vote getters.

Ebsy · PostJan 14, 2020#32020-01-14T03:13+00:00

This is a very strange way to run elections. It seems similar to a jungle primary but allows multiple votes to be cast? And will partisan affiliation appear on the ballot?

dbInSouthCity · PostJan 14, 2020#42020-01-14T04:25+00:00

aprice wrote: ↑
Jan 14, 2020
Why not just ranked voting? Too much work?
Don't tell us that we're too dumb because it works quite well in other cities / states / countries.

Honestly, the biggest change with this wouldn't be the "Mark all you approve", it would be the non-partisan general election. We'd most likely have a different mayor right now if they had just had a run off between the top two vote getters.

I believe that’s what this group wanted originally but were told by board of elections that the change would be too expensive to make.

mjbais1489 · PostAug 12, 2020#52020-08-12T00:52+00:00

I did not know we were voting on the below in November. until I read this thread Interesting - guess I'll have to research it a bit more.

https://stlapproves.org/
If anyone has any thoughts pro/con, I'd love to hear them

sc4mayor · PostAug 12, 2020#62020-08-12T01:02+00:00

I don’t live in the City but vote yes in my humble opinion. Partisan elections (D/R, what the city currently has) in a heavily democratic city like St. Louis means the primary essentially becomes the general. Non-partisan elections would mean the top two vote getters in the primary would go to the general, regardless of political party.

So, instead of Lyda winning the last mayoral primary with only ~35% of the total vote and then facing a republican who won’t even compete in the general...it likely would have been her and Jones (or maybe Reed, I don’t remember how it exactly played out last time) going up against each other in the general and Lyda probably wouldn’t even be mayor right now.

I used to work for the Municipal government in KCMO (and lived there nearly 13 years) and all their elections are non-partisan. That’s the way to go if you ask me.

dbInSouthCity · PostAug 12, 2020#72020-08-12T02:53+00:00

I think I like it but their example/claim is a bit misleading. Everyone that’s won city office has won it with well over 60% of the vote, because the office isn’t won in the Dem primary, technically speaking. this will do is it will also remove the D and R after the candidates name, which isn’t a big deal

sc4mayor · PostAug 18, 2020#82020-08-18T19:27+00:00

A good explainer:
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... -race.html

quincunx · PostSep 27, 2020#92020-09-27T03:22+00:00

dbInSouthCity · PostSep 27, 2020#102020-09-27T14:27+00:00

I already voted and voted No on this but different reasons but the reasoning given by the AAC is totally the opposite of what this measure would do

urban_dilettante · PostSep 27, 2020#112020-09-27T15:41+00:00

^^ that AAAC flyer makes absolutely no sense.

robbie · PostSep 27, 2020#122020-09-27T18:03+00:00

Like anything else, I imagine that many politicians that oppose this believe it might make their re-election more difficult. The proposition has a number of supporters as well: https://stlapproves.org/supporters

quincunx · PostNov 01, 2020#132020-11-01T00:26+00:00

Stltoday - St. Louis Board of Aldermen opposes Proposition D on Tuesday ballot

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/gov ... 98da2.html

PostNov 01, 2020#142020-11-01T18:17+00:00

Looking like Prop D doesn't have a chance with so many lining up against.

Stltoday - Antonio French: St. Louis' election recent history underscores the folly of Prop D

https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/column ... 7f10b.html

symphonicpoet · PostNov 02, 2020#152020-11-02T08:13+00:00

^He makes a pretty good case. I'm a bit suspicious of non-partisan elections, having watched the malice they did in Columbia, where a four way race for mayor pitting three Boone County Democratic party members against the darling of the Chamber of Commerce, Bob McDavid, meant the businessman won. Runoff votes make good sense. On the face of it prop D sounds better, but I can see where French is coming from. I've been vacillating about D. It's genuinely a hard decision to make.

robbie · PostNov 02, 2020#162020-11-02T10:45+00:00

quincunx wrote: ↑
Nov 01, 2020
Looking like Prop D doesn't have a chance with so many lining up against.

Stltoday - Antonio French: St. Louis' election recent history underscores the folly of Prop D

https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/column ... 7f10b.html

I’ll start by saying I generally agree with French. Had it been my choice, he’d be our mayor. However, I don’t agree with him here. He provides examples that are leaps of logic at best. For example, there are likely many reasons Bush beat Clay. She had more name recognition the second time around as well as a liberal voter base reacting to Trump by supporting a candidate more liberal than the previous one. These aren’t likely the full picture either, but to say that it was some reaction to a redistricting process that happened a decade ago after Clay had five potential primary races is a stretch.

Secondly, as a state with open primaries, we can already choose to support who we consider to be the weakest candidate in the opposite party if we support the incumbent and they do not have a strong primary challenge.

I’m supporting Prop D as party affiliation doesn’t matter as much in the city.

jshank83 · PostNov 03, 2020#172020-11-03T04:56+00:00

Although I doubt it would actually happen it would be interesting if you have 3 or 4 strong candidates and their supports all vote for the one they want and a candidate they think would be the easiest to beat. The votes get split and 2 “easy” candidates end up with the top 2 votes.

Ie something like 10 candidates.

Top 4 considered front runners (all dems most likely) split fairly evenly, let’s say 20% each. All their voters vote evenly for 2 different low level republicans and they each get 40% and the highest total. Numbers would work out a little differently (some vote for other lesser candidates in the race getting 5 or 10%) but you get the idea. Then you end up with 2 republicans somehow in the runoff vote which would have no chance normally.

Again, super unlikely but in theory possible if a big chuck of voters were to stick to a who they want and who they want to run against strategy.

quincunx · PostNov 04, 2020#182020-11-04T02:17+00:00

Absentee voters loved Prop D.

PostNov 04, 2020#192020-11-04T04:20+00:00

Wow! Passes 68-32

walker · PostDec 11, 2020#202020-12-11T20:35+00:00

Got an interesting survey re: Prop D today.

http://surveymonkey.com/r/RTGNM5D

Welcome to the 2020 City of St. Louis Voter Survey! The goal of this brief survey is to determine how voters view recent changes to the city's election system.

We hope you will take a moment to complete the survey. Your participation is completely voluntary and you can opt-out of the survey at any point. All of your responses will be kept confidential and will only be used in statistical summaries. No personally identifiable information will be associated with your responses in any reports of the data.

Thank you for agreeing to take this brief survey and for allowing us to measure the opinions of the public.

1. Are you registered to vote in the City of St. Louis?

Yes
No
Unsure or do not know

2. How likely are you to vote in the city’s March 2021 Non-Partisan Primary Election for mayor of the City of St. Louis?

Certain to vote
Chances are 50-50
Not likely to vote
Unsure or do not know

3. How familiar are you with Proposition D, a ballot measure passed by St. Louis City voters in November, which reforms how elections in the City of St. Louis are conducted?

Not at all familiar
Somewhat familiar
Extremely familiar
Never heard of it
Unsure or do not know

4. Proposition D reforms how elections in the City of St. Louis are conducted. It does so by requiring candidates running in the March 2021 primary to run on a nonpartisan basis without party labels. The measure also introduces approval voting, which allows residents to vote for as many primary candidates as they want.

So rather than only being allowed to choose one candidate, voters have the option to vote for one, a few, or all, of the candidates they find acceptable to hold office---with the top two vote getters in the March primary advancing to a two-person runoff in the April general election. Given these reforms, how, if at all, will these changes impact your vote?

It will not change how you vote and you will only vote for one candidate
You will consider voting for two candidates
You will consider voting for every candidate you support
Unsure or do not know

5. Thinking about the March 2021 non-partisan primary for mayor, if there are two candidates who you support, but you believe one has a better chance of advancing to the April run-off election, how would you vote?

Would ONLY vote for the candidate you support with the best chance to win
Would vote for both candidates you support
Unsure or do not know

{then collects demographic information - age, race, etc.}

quincunx · PostJan 13, 2022#212022-01-13T03:01+00:00

Ald Tyus filed bills to repeal Prop D and replace with a potential runoff if no one in the partisan primary gets over 50%.

https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/c ... BBId=13956

https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/c ... BBId=13957

This Board Bill provides partisan and non-partisan elections, for the filing date of certain Offices of Mayor, Comptroller, President of the Board of Aldermen and Aldermen, to the forth Monday in October and ending on the first Monday in December, moving the Municipal Primary Election to the first Tuesday in February, to create a Runoff Municipal Primary Election on the first Tuesday in March. It allows the top two candidates in each of the partisan primary elections, in which there are three or more candidates and no candidate received over 50 percent of the total vote in the partisan election to then compete in a Runoff Municipal Primary Election to be held 4 weeks after the Municipal Primary Election, and providing in elections which there are only two candidates in the partisan elections for the offices of Mayor, Comptroller, President of the Board of Aldermen and Aldermen, that the candidate that receives the highest amount of votes shall be declared the winner and shall advance to the Municipal General Election on the first Tuesday in April to compete against any other winners of the other partisan elections and any Non-Partisan Candidate that files the proper petition.

PostJan 15, 2022#222022-01-15T15:03+00:00

Stl Public Radio - Effort underway to return partisan elections in St. Louis

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/governm ... n-st-louis

PeterXCV · PostJan 15, 2022#232022-01-15T15:21+00:00

This legislation is comically corrupt, like have as many elections as possible so that turnout is low and the do-nothing old guard aldermen can get elected in perpetuity.

rbeedee · PostJan 15, 2022#242022-01-15T23:30+00:00

Agree, the proposal seems to be step backwards.

If we are going to change election systems again, I would prefer a ranked choice election so we only have to vote once, having an election to decide which two people we're going to have to pick from in another election a few weeks later seems suboptimal and leads to voter drop-out.

I would also be in favor of moving the municipal elections to November to consolidate with state/national elections.

RockChalkSTL · PostJan 16, 2022#252022-01-16T00:04+00:00

Talk about voter restrictions and all that jazz, and then try to undo every democratic decision the voters make.

Makes sense.

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