St. Paulites voted Tuesday to elect their mayor and city council members in even-numbered calendar years.

Nearly 61% of voters approved a ballot question that will align those municipal elections with presidential and statewide races. St. Paul has historically voted on these local offices in odd-numbered years.

As a result, members of the current city council, who were elected last November, won’t face voters again until 2028, giving them a five-year term in office. The winner of next year’s mayoral race on the other hand, will serve only three years before also facing re-election in 2028.

Turnout

Advocates of the measure hope it will boost turnout in mayoral and city council races, and bring St. Paul into line with the majority of Minnesota cities, which also hold their elections in even years.

“I voted yes because more people turn out for the president, and that will get more people to actually come and vote for the local (elections),” St. Paul voter Jill Wofford said Tuesday.

Opponents — including Mayor Melvin Carter and City Council President Mitra Jalali — worry the move will cause local elections to be overshadowed by more prominent and better-funded statewide and national races.

“There’s already so much going on … during presidential years,” said Ash Popov, who voted against the measure. “I feel like adding on to that as well would kind of overwhelm people and take away from (local) elections, so I think it’s good to keep them separate.”

It is also unclear how the new election schedule will affect the city’s ranked-choice voting process. Jalali and others questioned whether combining a ranked-choice municipal ballot with a presidential ballot was even feasible under state law, which spells out ballot formatting for presidential and statewide elections.

That question remains unresolved.

“There is no state law on ranked choice voting,” said Cassondra Knudson, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office, in an email Monday. “There are very specific state laws on how ballots should be formatted and tabulated that do not consider ranked choice voting as an option. … There isn’t much more to say as the logistics will need be determined by the city.”

Ranked-choice voting

Last week a spokesperson for Ramsey County Elections noted that ranked-choice voting in an even year is possible “administratively,” in that the county has the technical wherewithal. Jalali herself was first elected in a special ranked choice, even-year election — featuring three candidates — held on the same date as the August 2018 statewide political primary, which also featured two races for U.S. senator and the primary contest for Minnesota governor and attorney general.

“No state law expressly prohibits a charter city from holding a municipal election in an even year with ranked choice voting,” said Peter Butler, who led efforts to get the even-year question on the ballot.

Child care subsidy question

A separate ballot question, which would have raised property taxes annually for 10 years to help pay childcare costs for families in need, was rejected Tuesday by voters. Approximately 60% voted no on the question.

That measure also drew opposition from Carter, Jalali and several other city council members.

“I voted no even though I totally believe in what the money should be used for, but I don’t like having the government taking any more money than they already do,” said Bradley, who declined to give his last name. “They get enough money, so I think they can figure out a way to allocate money better, but I did … like what it was about.”

Maddie Robinson contributed to this article.

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