Dearborn group submits petition to change City Council election system
DEARBORN — A group of activists in Dearborn is pushing to change how City Council members are elected, submitting more than 6,300 petition signatures last week to the city clerk. The initiative aims to place a charter amendment on the November ballot that would shift the current at-large voting system to a ward-based election structure — a change organizers say is necessary to ensure fair representation for all neighborhoods.
Currently, all seven members of the Dearborn City Council are elected at-large, meaning all residents citywide vote to elect all seven candidates. Under the proposed system, Dearborn would be divided into seven geographic districts, with one City Council member elected per district — exclusively by voters residing in that district. Two additional at-large members would also be elected, bringing the council total to nine members, similar to Detroit’s system.
The proposal, led by the group Dearborn Wants Wards, argues the change is needed to address longstanding underrepresentation of East Dearborn, home to the city’s larger immigrant, working-class and majority-minority communities. In contrast, six of the seven current Council members reside in West Dearborn, where about 45,000 people live — while only one member resides in the East, where the population is closer to 65,000.
Community activist Mona Mawari, a Yemeni American pharmacist and founder of the Michigan Muslim Alliance, said East Dearborn residents feel politically marginalized under the current system.
https://arabamericannews.com/2025/06/19/dearborn-group-submits-petition-to-change-city-council-election-system/
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