Bold change on Royal Oak Nov. 7 ballot | Letters to the Editor
Voters in the city of Royal Oak will be deciding an important issue on the ballot on Election Day, Nov. 7. ("Early, ranked choice voting gain attention in Royal Oak, Michigan ahead of 2023 election," Detroit Free Press, Oct. 9.) If Proposal B, Ranked Choice Voting, passes, and the voting methodology is subsequently approved by the state Board of Elections, Royal Oak will be taking a bold step toward preserving our representative democracy, by taking the focus away from personalities in politics and putting it back on what the majority of voters want. Politicians will be forced to broaden their message and not preach to their narrow bands of followers. Consensus will result.
The changes in Royal Oak — and in Kalamazoo and East Lansing, where similar measures are on their ballots, and in Ann Arbor and Ferndale, which already has passed these measures — will be incremental. The big prize will be when this effort goes statewide as a result of the momentum created by these cities. Political discourse will be about discussing issues and determining the best ways of solving problems, and not about divisive polarization.
William Asher
Royal Oak
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Bold change on Royal Oak ballot Nov. 7
