FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: JEANNE MASSEY – 612- 850-6897

FAIRVOTE MINNESOTA COMMENTS ON BETTER BALLOT CAMPAIGN COURT RULING

SAINT PAUL, MN – (December 2, 2009) – Jeanne Massey, Executive Director of FairVote Minnesota and Ellen Brown, coordinator of the St. Paul Better Ballot Campaign today commented on the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) ruling on campaign practices during the recent campaign in Saint Paul.

“We respect the opinion of the OAH, and while we generally disagree with the outcome of the case, we are pleased that the judges decided that the will of the people prevails and that IRV will be coming to Saint Paul,” stated Jeanne Massey.

Ellen Brown noted that opponents of IRV who lost at the polls in November had requested that the OAH do three things: overturn the election; assess a $5000 fine for each alleged violation; refer the matter to criminal court. The OAH ruled against the BBC, but rules less harshly than opponents requested.  

“The errors were technicalities and were certainly unintentional. Our mistake was that we used a general supporter list of IRV on the ballot question piece of literature and we should have screened the list better. Our final drop piece cleared that up. The campaign apologizes for using the word "endorse" rather than "support" when naming organizations in our literature and not distinguishing between the campaign and IRV in concept. But IRV won and it won because voters in Saint Paul, like in Minneapolis and several other US cities, believe that IRV will make the electoral process stronger and more responsive to their interests, not because of inadvertent technical errors in our literature,” said Brown.

Brown observed that the League of Women Voters and DFL did not file a complaint.  Said Brown, “In the case of the League of Women Voters, they testified that we were correct in citing their support. In the case of the state DFL, its support is plainly stated in the party’s platform and the support of President Obama and other national leaders is a matter of public record."

"We are discussing  our legal options of appeal of these inadvertent campaign violations with our volunteer attorneys and board. However, the most important point is that the election is now official. The voters have spoken. It’s time for the supporters and opponents to come together and work together to make IRV work as smoothly and efficiently as it worked the recent election in Minneapolis,” concluded Massey.

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