Petition to change City Hall elections under review for placement on May 2023 ballot
Elections in El Paso could look much different if El Pasoans for Fair Elections is successful in reshaping how political business is done in the city.
The organization, an offshoot of the progressive political action committee Justicia Fronteriza, submitted 14,000 signatures on its petition in support of three propositions:
Proposition A: Would limit contributions to mayoral or City Council campaigns at $1,000 per donor, as well as require donors to disclose their place of employment and require the city to enact enforcement provisions.
Proposition B: Would establish public financing for candidates for mayor or city council, provided they commit to limiting campaign contributions and expenditures and show community support for their candidacy by collecting a petition with signatures from at least one percent of registered voters.
Proposition C: Would enact ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, thereby eliminating runoff elections.
“It was very validating to see that people really do feel that wealthy donors are overrepresented in our politics rather than everyday people,” Justicia Fronteriza Executive Director Jean-Carlo Tirado said of submitting the petition to the city.
El Pasoans for Fair Elections launched in November 2021 and began planning the ballot initiative campaign the following January. Its parent organization, Justicia Fronteriza, is headed by former El Paso mayoral candidate Veronica Carbajal.
The group is seeking to have the propositions placed on the May 2023 ballot. The city Clerk's Office has a 30-day window to validate the signatures. A valid signature must come for a person who is a registered voter who lives in the city of El Paso.
It will take about 10,000 to 11,000 valid signatures before the propositions can be sent to the City Council to vote on whether to included the propositions in the May election.
“We had a close-knit group of staff, paid canvassers and committed volunteers,” Tirado said. “Something that I was taken aback by and brought me joy was, when we were out collecting signatures and got people to sign, some of them asked us how they can help and took clipboards themselves and helped collect signatures for us. This just shows how much people want this type of change in El Paso.”
For Tirado, the petition enjoys wide support in the city and represents an opportunity for elections to be more representative of the community.
“The reason I feel this is so important is that, oftentimes in our politics, our representatives are not having honest conversations, because they aren’t really representing their constituents,” Tirado said. “They represent a small handful of wealthy donors.”
Tirado cited the recent extension of El Paso City Manager Tommy Gonzalez’s contract as a reason many people inked their name on the petition.
“They raised his pay but, just the other day, they are saying there’s not enough money to count signatures submitted for the climate charter,” Tirado said. “Look at the current state of our roads cracked and with wide holes, and you can see how our priorities are misaligned here.”
Tirado is hoping the council will greenlight the petition so the group’s proposals can be added to the May 2023 ballot, which will include the proposed charter amendments and the climate charter, if all of its nearly 40,000 signatures are approved.
If the petition is rejected, Tirado said the organization will be forced to start the process over and submit a new petition by February.
“The City Council should approve our petition and enact all three ordinances into law instead of saying ‘no’ and forcing us to have to do a second round of collecting signatures in order to put it on the ballot,” Tirado said. “We feel it is unreasonable to require voters to sign twice. Someone who signed the first time shouldn’t need to sign again, given that they already agree that this should go on the ballot for people to vote on.”
While Tirado expressed skepticism over the council’s willingness to advance the proposals without forcing the organization to go through another round of collecting signatures for a petition, he believes the group’s proposals will advance the cause of democracy in El Paso.
“These measures will make electing our representatives fairer, as well as allow good community leaders to run and compete against career politicians willing to shake the money tree from the same wealthy donors,” Tirado said. “Our initiatives would allow honest candidates that want change not to feel pressured to take that corrupting money in order to compete.”
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso activists call for election changes
