Abdul-Hakim Shabazz: Want to fix local government? Drop party labels.

You want to know a quick way to improve local government in Indiana? One simple reform that would cut through the partisan noise, make races more competitive and maybe—just maybe—get more people to pay attention?

Make local elections nonpartisan. All of them.

Mayor. City council. County commissioner. County council. Township trustee. Let’s stop pretending party labels tell voters anything useful about fixing potholes or managing a parks budget.

If the General Assembly really wanted to help cities like Indianapolis—not just gripe about them—it would pass legislation mandating nonpartisan elections for local offices. Not just in Marion County, but across the state.

This isn’t about silencing political expression. It’s about acknowledging reality: The issues most local officials face are administrative, not ideological. Your fire chief isn’t quoting the party platform before dispatching a ladder truck. Your zoning board isn’t debating gun policy. But come election time, the “R” or “D” next to a candidate’s name suddenly becomes gospel.

Let’s take Indianapolis. Thanks to our city-county structure and partisan primaries, most general elections are a formality. The real battles happen in May, when 15% of registered voters pick who’s going to run things for a city of 900,000. If you win the Democratic primary, you’re mayor. If you win a Republican primary in Hamilton County, you’re a commissioner. Rinse. Repeat.

Nonpartisan elections would force candidates to run on ideas, not labels. They’d have to talk to more than just their base. And it would open the door for independent-minded folks who don’t want to play the party loyalty game just to get on the ballot.

Before you accuse me of utopian thinking, this isn’t exactly revolutionary. Dallas, Charlotte and other major cities already hold nonpartisan elections. Even Chicago—hardly a bastion of political reform—has moved to a nonpartisan elected school board. And here in Indiana, judges already run without party labels in the general election. If they can do it without chaos breaking out, so can your city council.

Now, would this fix all our problems? Of course not. There will still be backroom deals and bad decisions. But it would chip away at the tribalism that’s infected even our most local public debates. And it might get more voters to tune in.

The real obstacle? Partisanship. Local party leaders like their power. Low-turnout primaries give them control over who gets through the gate. Consultants love easy messaging—“Vote red!” “Vote blue!”—because it means less effort and more recycled talking points. And let’s be honest, lawmakers at the Statehouse aren’t always eager to tinker with a system that favors their own party’s dominance at home.

But if they’re going to keep holding press conferences about downtown crime, or propose oversight boards and task forces, they might want to ask a more fundamental question: Does the current electoral system actually serve voters—or just serve insiders?

I know, I know. Asking politicians to voluntarily give up a tool of control is like asking a toddler to hand over the iPad. Still, if they’re serious about local government reform, this is a place to start.

Strip the labels. Let the ideas do the talking. And maybe—just maybe—we’ll get the kind of governance we keep saying we want.

You’re welcome, Indiana.•

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Shabazz is an attorney, radio talk show host and political commentator, college professor
and stand-up comedian. Send comments to [email protected].

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