Kent City Council to consider nonpartisan city elections process

The Kent charter review commission has recommended that the city’s mayoral and city council elections will no longer be partisan. At 7 p.m. July 9, Kent City Council will decide whether to put the change to voters in the November general election.

If council agrees and voters approve the charter change, candidates would not declare a party affiliation. Primary elections would still be held when more than two people file for mayor or council. The two candidates who get the most votes would advance to the general election.

Primaries would also be held when more than six people file for Kent’s three at-large council seats. Those elections would also be nonpartisan, and the six with the most votes would advance to the general election ballot.

If two or fewer people file for a single seat, or if six or less people file for Kent’s at-large seats, no primary election would be held, at least as far as candidates go. The candidates’ names would simply appear on a nonpartisan general election ballot.

If voters agree to the charter change, Kent would no longer be the sole community in Portage County that holds partisan mayoral and council elections, the county board of elections says.

Among the charter review commission’s other recommendations are:

• Beginning in 2030, convening the commission every five years instead of once a decade
  
• Removing the phrase “to Almighty God” from the charter’s preamble: it would read, “We, the people of the City of Kent, Ohio, grateful for the freedoms we enjoy…” instead of, “We the people of the City of Kent, Ohio, grateful to Almighty God for the freedoms we enjoy…” The commission’s stated reason is to underscore the separation of church and state, and to avoid possible offense to residents.
  
• Retaining a provision that elected officials who are recalled from office cannot be appointed to the vacancy thereby created, while adding a stipulation that the person could not be appointed to any other vacant city office for a year after the election in which they were recalled.
  
• Adding a requirement that the city manager submit an annual economic development plan that outlines goals and objectives for achieving and maintaining a sustainable Kent economy, metrics and resource needs for strategy implementation, and that includes a five-year forecast and reports on performance

City council members must approve each of the commission’s recommendations in order for them to appear before voters. In this case, the recommendations council approves will appear on the November ballot.