X Doesn't Mark The Spot With Preferential

X Doesn’t Mark the Spot With Preferential

City Clerk Jerome Weiss was accused of nepotism in the appointment of his daughter as an election official this week.

Chances of the accusation leading to any serious consequences are slim, however, as Judy Weiss was officiating at a trial run of preferential voting in her sixth grade class.

Ms. Weiss, along with 45 other eleven-year-olds at Eberwhite Elementary ran a mock election with real ballots and a locked ballot box to see what problems might arise under Ann Arbor’s new voting system.

“You are the first people in the state of Michigan ever to use this system of voting,” Jerome Weiss told the beaming class to get the election rolling.

The students were each given two ballots by four “election officials” who had been previously been briefed by the City Clerk. The only advice given to the young voters was to read the printed ballot instructions carefully. The ballots listed three fake parties followed by fictitious candidates, and corresponded to Mayor and Council ballots to be used in April.

“Now remember, in real elections your choices are supposed to be secret,” warned Ms. Owens, the 6th grade teacher.

The tricky part of the election was the instructions, which are different on the two ballots. In the council race, one choice is marked with traditional X. But for the mayoral ballot, preferential requires the use of numbers-1 for first choice choice, and 2 or 3 for optional second and third choices. Any mayoral ballot marked only “X” is invalidated. The mock election was run to see how many young people would have problems, so that any conflicts could be eradicated before the real election in April.

How did they do? Out of 46 ballots cast, only one person used X’s instead of numbers for the mayoral race. Some students made three choices, others only a first or a first and second, so most seem to have understood their options. In the Council race, two ballots were invalidated, one with two X’s, and the other for having a write-in (Archie Bunker on the Grouch Party ticket) while an X preceded a different name.

Three more trial elections are scheduled in the next week, but the sixth grader’s outstanding record suggests preferential will work well.

“It was easy,” claimed one student following the election.

“That’s probably a better average than certain Republicans now on Council would achieve,” commented one Democratic candidate.

Council GOP members have consistently complained the preferential system is too hard. At least for the Eberwhite sixth graders, preferential is a snap.

Meanwhile, Council and the city clerk’s office are working out a program to educate voters about the new balloting system. A controversy arose Monday night when Mayor James Stephenson proposed a letter from the mayor’s office explaining preferential. Council Democrats immediately objected to a mailing with Stephenson’s name, as his reelection bid might be aided by the effort.

“I think it would be strange for James Stephenson to be sending out a letter ‘how to mark your ballot’,”argued Democratic Councilman Coleen McGee. The Dems suggested such a letter should come from the clerk’s office, pointing out that at least in the mayoral election, X doesn’t mark the spot.