EASTPOINTE, Mich. – Tuesday, voters will use ranked-choice voting to decide who will get two seats on Eastpointe’s City Council.
Voters will rank four candidates.
The winners will be two people who get 33.3 percent plus one additional vote after officials tally and adjust the different rankings.
When polls close, the first choices are counted. The candidate with the fewest number is eliminated. Voters who picked the last-place candidate still will have a say in the final decision because the second choice on their ballot will be counted. This process until there are two winners with slightly more than 33.3 percent.
“I do know a lot of residents are not happy with the ranked-choice," candidate Mary Hall-Rayford said. "I keep encouraging them to vote because otherwise your vote really won’t count.”
Officials in Eastpointe agreed ranked-choice voting to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Justice Department days before President Barack Obama left office in 2017. The government claimed white voters acting as a bloc had historically diluted the voting power of black residents in citywide council races.
“I guess I’m frustrated with the federal government coming in to a local community, accusing us of doing something wrong and saying, ‘Now you have to do it this way or else,’” candidate Harvey Curley said.