The St. Louis American: “Vote yes on Prop R for early childhood education and Prop D”

Vote yes on Prop D for Black and progressive power

In the most recent mayoral election in the City of St. Louis, multiple qualified Black candidates were pitted against one another in a winner-take-all primary. In the end, this meant most citizens voted for a Black mayor. We don’t have a Black mayor. 

In fact, the City of St. Louis elects mayors with as little as one-third of the primary vote. So, we end up with mayors most voters did not prefer. This is not democratic and diminishes the power of the city’s large Black voting bloc. We can change this on November 3 by passing Proposition D (for Democracy).

Prop D would make three changes to our voting process for St. Louis city elections. First, it creates a nonpartisan primary, meaning we will get to vote on all the candidates. Second, we will have the ability to approve (or disapprove) of every candidate on the ballot. Finally, the two candidates with the most votes in the primary election would advance to a run-off in the general election.

These changes would make it possible for multiple Black candidates to compete in citywide races without risking the possibility of canceling each other out. It could also lift the fortunes of the emerging coalition of Black activists and white progressives pushing for necessary reforms in local governance. So, it’s no wonder elected leaders in this movement, like Cori Bush, Tishaura O. Jones, Rasheen Aldridge and Rev. Darryl Gray, have endorsed the proposal. We, now, add our name to this impressive list. The American strongly recommends a vote of yes on Proposition D.

Read the full story on its original platform here.