Fed up with Miami politics, activists are pushing for three major changes to the city | Opinion

For more than two years, residents have watched the city of Miami become enveloped in scandals, and officials display open disregard for the public good.

Now, a group of community organizations has launched an effort to gather petitions to give voters more representation. A coalition called “Stronger Miami” — backed by a political committee of the same name — is asking registered voters who live in the city to sign a petition asking for three major changes to Miami’s city charter. Coalition members include One Grove Alliance and voting rights organization Engage Miami.

The coalition needs to collect an estimated 26,000 valid petition signatures to place the referendum on the ballot in the November municipal elections, which is the group’s goal, or in subsequent elections.

The referendum would ask voters to:

• Move city general elections from odd-numbered years, when turnout is low, to November during even-numbered years to coincide with midterm and presidential elections when more voters go to the polls.
• Expand the city commission from five to nine seats to account for Miami’s population growth since districts were created in 1997 and to give better representation to individual neighborhoods. That would reduce each district’s population from more than 90,000 to 50,000, making it easier for each commissioner to focus on what individual areas need.
• Require that commission districts may not be drawn to favor or disfavor a political party, and that they respect neighborhood and major geographic boundaries such as highways.

Community activists have been talking about these changes for years. In 2023, the Herald Editorial Board’s series “Miami Dysfunction” called for a larger commission and for elections to happen in even-numbered years.

We called for these reforms as Miami became embroiled in controversies that showed City Hall’s inability to provide proper representation to more than 455,000 Miamians. There was the $63.5 million federal civil judgment against Commissioner Joe Carollo for using his authority to retaliate against political enemies and also a lawsuit filed by civic organizations accusing Miami of splitting neighborhoods unconstitutionally to achieve “racial quotas” in the city commission’s districts.

That lawsuit resulted in a 2024 settlement that required Miami to adopt a map drawn by the plaintiffs and place a different referendum on the November ballot asking voters to create a citizens redistricting committee and to prohibit districts from favoring incumbents or particular candidates.

This was an important achievement for citizens and the community organizations that sued the city, some of which are now behind the petition effort asking for even stronger district guidelines.

Miami’s last redistricting process — which must happen every decade after U.S. Census numbers are released — in 2022 was a blatant exercise in keeping political power in the hands of sitting commissioners and their allies, with efforts to draw Carollo’s district to include his house and to draw another district to exclude the home of a candidate.

There’s a saying in local politics that everyone who wants something in Miami knows how to count to three — a simple majority on the five-member commission. This concentrates power in the hands of very few commissioners, some of whom we expect will fight the effort to dilute their power.

Decisions in South Florida’s largest city — and second-largest in the state — should require more deliberation and voices. Miami has fewer commission districts than cities with smaller or similar populations such as Miami Beach, Hialeah and Tampa.

The low voter turnout in city elections only worsens that lack of representation. Only 12.58% of Miami voters cast ballots in three races in November 2023. That’s just over 15,000 people voting for candidates running to control a $2.5 billion annual budget.

Moving these races to coincide with higher-turnout midterm and presidential elections would ensure more voters have a say. Of course, there are downsides: Opponents say grassroots candidates would struggle to compete for attention when there are so many bigger races on the ballot — and those ballots would be longer as well. A larger commission could also dilute the voice and power of individual districts.

There are no foolproof solutions to Miami’s dysfunction, but erring on the side of providing more representation to voters is a good start.

Click here to send the letter.