Democracy in action: Kansas City is better off with votes instead of petitions

Mayor Sly James wants lots of Kansas Citians to vote Tuesday. Sure, he loves democracy in action.

He also knows it will take signatures from only 5 percent of the mayoral vote in 2015 to put an initiative petition on a future ballot. If turnout for the low-key mayor’s race is lot lower than the 72,000 in 2011, as expected, petitioners will need a lot fewer signatures for a successful petition.

That’s another form of democracy in action, of course. But in a city where the process has been abused, making petitions easier is asking for problems.

Come Tuesday, it’s time to vote.

This story was originally published June 19, 2015 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Democracy in action: Kansas City is better off with votes instead of petitions."