Ask ELi: Who’s Running for City Council, and How Can You Run?

Responding to questions from ELI about whether they will be running for reelection to their Council seats this November, East Lansing Mayor Ron Bacon and Mayor Pro Tem Jessy Gregg each said they are “undecided.”

Meanwhile, Noel Garcia told ELi he will be running for election. Garcia was appointed by Council this January to fill the seat left vacant by Lisa Babcock when she became a judge.

With these three seats open, based on the last decade’s history, East Lansing is likely to see a lively race for City Council this fall as voters choose who should serve alongside Councilmembers Dana Watson and George Brookover. (Their terms expire in 2025.)

Here’s an FAQ about the Council race from ELi, including an explanation of how you can run if you’re interested in doing so.

What does the City Council do and how is it composed?

Formally speaking, East Lansing’s City Council is the legislative branch of local government.

In practice, the Council hires and fires for two key positions: the city manager (presently filled with an interim) and the city attorney. The Council also approves the city’s budget, passes (and sometimes rescinds) laws, approves commercial site plans and zoning changes, appoints citizens to specific boards and commissions, approves bonding and tax incentives, and more. Council has a great deal of power in East Lansing.

East Lansing’s City Council has five seats, all four-year terms, except occasionally when a seat is filled after a vacancy. This year, all three seats up for election are for four-year terms.

All Council seats are at-large. Those elected represent the entire city, not a specific district.

East Lansing uses a “winner take all” voting approach, not a ranked voting method. This means that whoever the top three vote-getters are will take office.

Registered voters who live in the City of East Lansing can cast up to three votes in the election from however many candidates run. Sometimes voters opt to cast ballots for only one or two people in a three-seat race because it avoids “splitting” their vote, making it slightly more likely the one or two people they favor will be elected.

How is the mayor chosen and what does the mayor do?

East Lansing’s City Charter provides for what is typically called a “strong city manager/weak mayor” form of government. The city manager runs the day-to-day operations of the city, unlike Lansing, where the mayor runs operations. (Lansing has what is known as a “strong mayor” form of government.)

According to the charter, the mayor is the city’s chief executive “insofar as required by law, and for all ceremonial purposes.” The mayor doesn’t typically sign anything on behalf of the city unless it has been OK’d by a majority of Council or is ceremonial.

The mayor pro tem is the substitute mayor, performing the job of the mayor when the mayor is absent or “unable to perform the duties of his or her office,” in the words of the Charter.

The Council elects the mayor and mayor pro tem from the five seated members shortly after the election. Any person among the five can be elected mayor or mayor pro tem by the Council. (These offices do not require prior council experience.)

Is the position compensated?

East Lansing’s mayor currently earns about $10,000 per year and the rest of the Council about $8,000 per year. A special commission may recommend compensation increases, which the Council can then accept or reject. Historically, when the commission has recommended an increase, the Council has rejected it.

People who take the job seriously – which most do – earn very little per hour.

East Lansing council members also get free parking in the city’s parking system and free use of a computer (laptop or tablet) and a cell phone for city business. They must return the devices when their terms end. They also share a staff person who helps with things like scheduling.

How can a person put their name on the November 7 ballot?

To be eligible to run, a person must be a registered voter in the City of East Lansing. This instruction page from the City Clerk’s office gives a run-down of how to file for candidacy. The filing deadline is Tuesday, July 25, 2023, at 4 p.m.

Those who want to run have to file an Affidavit of Identity and Nominating Petitions. The legal requirements for these are very specific, so if you’re planning to run, make sure you understand the instructions and ask the City Clerk’s office if you have any questions. Questions about the financial disclosure requirements can be directed to the Ingham County Clerk’s office.

Those who file for candidacy and change their minds have a tight deadline in which to withdraw. The withdrawal deadline falls on July 28, 2023, three days after the candidacy filing deadline.

What do Council elections typically look like in East Lansing?

As with all elections, name recognition is very important, giving incumbents an advantage if there is not an anti-incumbency wave. Newcomers to the East Lansing City Council race who aren’t already well known through some other means typically knock a lot of doors to introduce themselves to voters. Many also use direct mail and yard signs. Incumbents typically use the same methods.

ELi covers the Council race intensely and in a nonpartisan fashion, typically asking candidates to all answer the same questions and bringing the answers in addition to bringing candidate profiles based on interviews and past reporting. ELi has in recent history partnered with the League of Women Voters to bring candidate forums, with questions developed from ELi surveys of likely voters.

ELi also typically looks at who is donating to candidates’ campaigns, although sometimes candidates have filed their donor information too late for us to bring the information before people vote. As background on incumbents, we also look at the history of split votes to show where incumbents fell on controversial issues.

Rarely do East Lansing Council candidates run as a slate, in part because this legally requires an extra layer of coordination among campaigns.

But we do regularly see mailings from special-interest groups that promote candidates together as if they are a slate. In the past decade, there’s been particularly heavy spending by area realtors and the Lansing Chamber of Commerce in the East Lansing City Council race. We also typically see relatively heavy spending by union PACs (political action committees).

Because East Lansing’s Council races fall in odd-numbered years, the people voting tend to be those who are committed to participating in the Council race. In other words, they’re not at the ballot because of some other race and just happen to have the opportunity to vote in the Council race.

This is very different from, say, the East Lansing Public Schools Board of Education elections, which are held on even-numbered years when people come out to vote for national elections and end up also voting for school board candidates while they are at the ballot box. Historically, relatively few Michigan State University students vote in East Lansing City Council races.

Michigan law now allows people to vote absentee for any reason. In practice, this means voting in East Lansing starts weeks before Election Day (this year Nov. 7).

Have a question you’d like ELi to get answered? Contact us!