Drop party labels on City Council

I recently went to see former President Bill Clinton speak at the Peace Center. His message was largely one of bipartisanship and how we, as a country, need to start working toward common goals and interests and put our party differences aside. Working together toward a common goal does not mean giving up who we are. It means staying true to ourselves while realizing the common good is more important than always being right.

Greenville's City Council has set itself up as a role model in bipartisanship. Other cities around the state and country have tried to emulate what our council has been able to do in Greenville. Our City Council has worked toward a common goal of making Greenville a great place to live, without partisan attacks or party-line voting. This feeling of support for what is best for our city was on display in the recent elections, in which our Republican Mayor supported a Democratic candidate.

Now it is being proposed that the party labels be dropped altogether. The ballot would no longer display who is a Republican and who is a Democrat. It would instead list all of the candidates running for a seat and allow the voters to select the candidate they feel would do the best job. This is how the election process should be. We should support the effort to put the election of candidates back in the hands of the voters and out of the hands of the two major parties.

The biggest argument against the change I have heard is that it would negatively impact minority districts in our city. This argument implies that voting minorities are not smart enough to vote for the best candidate. A nonpartisan election would allow more choice in the process. How can that hurt any group other than the currently elected council?

Our current process requires that a candidate file for office with their respective party, then campaign and run in a primary. Once a candidate wins his or her primary, they then move on to a general election, typically between two candidates — a Republican and a Democrat. This process allows the respective party faithful to select who they see as the most Democratic or Republican candidates, thereby encouraging partisanship.

Fortunately our current council and previous councils before have overcome this partisanship and worked toward the common good. This will not always be the case, as our current process allows a small handful to select the candidates we as voters are allowed to vote for.

Nonpartisan elections would encourage more people to be involved in the process. Candidates that may not be involved in local party politics would have a chance at winning a seat on council. We need candidates that are more interested in fixing local problems rather than simply getting elected to climb the political staircase to a higher office.

Another argument is that having more people on the ballot would only confuse voters, and therefore hurt the process because voters would vote for the most common name or the candidate that has spent the most money.

In reality this already happens. Having more people on the ballot would instead require candidates not run on name alone, but encourage candidates reach out to all voters in their respective districts and educate the electorate on their positions.

I believe the voters of Greenville have shown the ability to make good choices in the past, as evidenced by the current council. Opposing a change to nonpartisan elections by saying the voters are not smart enough to make educated decisions without a D or an R beside a candidate's name is not only wrong, but offensive.

I would encourage you to contact each member of council and let them know that you support more choices and less partisanship in elections, therefore you support a change to non-partisan city elections.

James Akers Jr. is a Realtor in Greenville and is a former first vice chair of the Greenville County Democratic Party and president of the Upstate Young Democrats. Write to him at jamesakersjr@gmail.com.