St. Paul voters may get to decide when they elect leaders
A former St. Paul finance worker turned in a petition Friday morning that would ask voters to move city elections to even numbered years. Peter Butler collected as many as 7,800 signatures, enough to put a charter question on the ballot if about 7,000 of them are valid.
Voters approved ranked choice voting in 2009 after a similar signature drive to change elections in St. Paul.
Butler says odd year elections let municipal candidates campaign in relative obscurity, and running with presidents and governors could make mayors and city council members more accountable to St. Paul residents.
"I think elected officials will reach out to a broader number of people. Right now, they just target the people that normally go to the polls. They're not trying to reach out to people who don't go to the polls," Butler said. "They're not going to waste their time or money on that. So, I think there'll be an element of accountability if elected officials know that next time they're up for election, there will be a large turnout."
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Butler collected the signatures almost single-handedly, knocking on doors and drafting some Macalester College students into the effort. He can still collect signatures through June 21, and has a Facebook page describing the effort.
Ramsey County elections officials are going through the petition already.
"To the extent we can find the correct number of signatures, then we'll let the petitioner know that," says Ramsey County elections manager Joe Mansky. "If it turns out that he does not have enough signatures, we will notify him of that. And then he will have an additional period of time to submit additional signatures to us."
A valid petition would go before the city council for draft ballot language and a legal check. It would require a 51 percent yes vote to change the charter and the city's election calendar. The city council would have to decide how to accommodate the new election cycles, like what years the council and mayor would run. They alternate odd years with four year terms now.
If voters approve the plan, Mansky says city officials would also have to alter the city council and mayoral terms, either lengthening or shortening them, to accommodate the new elections.