Eastpointe elects first black mayor; selects 2 council members under new voting method

Christina Hall | Detroit Free Press

The city of Eastpointe made history Tuesday, electing its first black mayor and using a new voting method to elect two people to City Council.

Winning the mayor's spot was Councilwoman Monique Owens, who was the city's first black councilwoman when she was elected two years ago. She garnered 19 more votes than her closest opponent, Councilman Michael Klinefelt, according to unofficial results.

Brian Fairbrother, assistant city manager and deputy city clerk, said Klinefelt can ask for a recount with the close vote, but he said he has not heard any discussion of a recount for the mayoral election.

Owens, who was a Wayne County Sheriff's officer per her Facebook page, would replace longtime Mayor Suzanne Pixley, who is retiring.

In a Facebook post, Owens thanked God and said "(a)ll my hard work was done for you so do not let this moment be in vain. Thank you for all your support. I promise i will do my very best with your help. We did this together."

There are more than 32,000 people in Eastpointe, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's population estimates for July 2018. Forty-six percent of the population is black, according to the estimates.

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The mayor was elected in the traditional, at-large voting method, while the council seats were decided by a new ranked choice voting method used for the first time.

Earlier this year, the city entered into an agreement with U.S. Department of Justice to settle a 2017 voting rights lawsuit that challenged the method of electing the City Council.

The department alleged the method of voting for council resulted in black citizens in the city having less opportunity than white citizens to participate in the political process and elect candidates of their choice to the council.

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Under the new method, Councilwoman Sarah Lucido won the first round of tabulation for a council seat with 1,855 votes. A former mayor in the city, Harvey Curley, won the second round of tabulation reaching a threshold of the necessary 1,664 votes to be elected, Fairbrother said.

"We're trailblazers," he said of the new voting method.

Fairbrother said Eastpointe is the first community in Michigan to implement ranked choice voting, which is in place in other cities in the U.S. and was approved as a new voting method Tuesday by voters in New York City.

He said this voting method is not allowed under Michigan election law — unless allowed by a federal court order. He said that he believes "a lot of communities were watching from afar" and the method is popular around the world.

"There are multiple deviations of ranked choice voting. We looked at all the different cities in the U.S. and chose the best practices from each one," he said.

The city had a website with information for voters and it conducted training and a half-dozen meetings to educate the public in the last six to eight weeks. He said the ballot was specific and had a lot of instructions.

"I did not have a single complaint to my election inspectors," Fairbrother said. "They might not all agree with it, but they were all knowledgeable about ranked choice voting."

He said tabulating the votes took more time, but the city was done by 1 p.m. Wednesday, including an audit of the results by the city's finance department.

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Macomb County still has to certify the election results, and a recount by the county could be conducted, if requested by someone, under this voting method, Fairbrother said.

He said the ranked choice voting will be in place for council for two election cycles. Fairbrother said the city doesn't have a primary, so this method would be in place in general elections.

After that time period, he said, several things could happen, including the City Council could agree to use this method or have ballot language to change the city charter.

Fairbrother explained how ranked choice voting in the city was tabulated. He said there was a threshold of needed votes to be elected, which was determined by a formula that included, in part, the number of total votes. The threshold the two council winners had to meet was 1,664 votes, he said.

One person was selected per round. Four people were running for two four-year seats on council. Voters could rank their candidates by preference — ranking one person or four.

Lucido had enough votes on the first round. Officials took her vote total minus the threshold total, and those surplus votes were redistributed fractionally to the remaining candidates, Fairbrother said. That's how Curley, who had 1,610 votes in the first round, got enough votes in the second round to be elected.

If Owens is certified as the new mayor, the remaining two years of her council seat will be vacant. The new council will have to decide whether to appoint someone or hold a special election, Fairbrother said. That decision could come as early as Nov. 19.

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.