4 Lansing City Council seats are up for grabs in 2019. Here's who's filed to run.
Sarah LehrCorrection: An earlier version of this article of this article included candidates who had paperwork pulled to run, but who had not completed their filing.
LANSING — Four seats on the Lansing City Council seats will be up for grabs in 2019.
Five candidates filed to run for two at-large seats, including incumbents Patricia Spitzley and Carol Wood, who is the council's longest-serving member with 19 years experience.
1st Ward Council Member Jody Washington faces four challengers in a race to hang onto her seat representing northeast Lansing.
No one filed in southwest Lansing to unseat 3rd Ward City Council Member Adam Hussain, who is Washington's son. A write-in candidate would have to submit a declaration of intent by July 26 to challenge Hussain.
Lansing's 2019 filing deadline was 4 p.m. Tuesday. Candidates have until Friday to pull their names from the ballot.
The City Council has eight members. City elections are staggered, with four non-partisan council seats on the ballot every two years.
The city's last election season saw an unusually high level of interest, with 24 candidates who filed for council seats. 2017 was also an election year for Lansing's mayor and city clerk.
"It's somewhat down this year, in terms of the volume of people who filed," Swope said. "It's unusual to have an uncontested council seat."
Four at-large candidates and two 1st Ward candidates will advance beyond the Aug. 6 primary, as will Hussain.
Winners of the Nov. 5 general election will serve four-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2020.
The following candidates are running for Lansing City Council seats in 2019. Names appear in the order in which they were filed. An asterisk denotes an incumbent.
At-large (citywide)
Top four candidates will advance to general election
Yanice Jackson-Long
Carol Wood*
Terry Eagle
Patricia Spitzley*
Julee M. Rodocker
1st Ward (northeast Lansing)
Top two candidates will advance to general election
Brandon Betz
Jody Washington*
James Pyle
Scott Hughes
Farhan Sheik-Omar
3rd Ward (southwest Lansing)
Adam Hussain*
How do I vote?
Visit the Michigan Secretary of State's office's website to find out if you are registered to vote.
You can register by mail up to 15 days before an election. If you don't meet that deadline, you have until the end of election day to register in person at your local clerk's office.
Polls will be open the day of the Aug. 6 primary from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Michigan voters approved a series of reforms in 2017, which made it easier to for people to register to vote and ensured people could vote absentee without providing a specific reason. Absentee ballots, which must be requested from your local clerk, are due by 8 p.m. on election day.
More election news:
What Michigan voters can expect on May 7, the first election since voters passed changes
Voters gave Lansing schools $120 million 3 years ago. The district is asking for more.
Contact Sarah Lehr at (517) 377-1056 or slehr@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahGLehr.
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