• Bill Barnett
• David Brauer
• Darrell Gerber
• Dakotah Johnson
• Jay L Hatlen Linnell
• Kevin Kinneavy
• Shaun Laden
• Jeanne Massey
• Kel
  

By Bruce Campbell

We profess to love democracy in America but, much like family members avoiding a loved one’s personal issues, we’re a nation in denial about problems with our democratic system. Less than 60% of eligible voters participated in the 2004 presidential election. And that was considered high relative to previous years.  (Do the math: the current president received support from less than 30% of the voting age population.) In Minnesota the last two governors took office with less than 50% of the vote (Ventura got 37%, Pawlenty 44%).  It’s no wonder that politicians often cater exclusively to their hard-core base of support when they craft legislation or speak publicly.  This is a problem for political representation . . in a. representative democracy no less.

January 6, 2006

On a 7-4 vote, the Minneapolis Charter Commission on Wednesday approved the Better Ballot Campaign's petition language for the Instant Runoff Voting charter amendment proposal. Better Ballot Campaign organizer Jeanne Massey said this means the petition drive will get underway shortly.

What do the Minneapolis mayoral and city council candidates think about abolishing the Board of Estimate and Taxation, or about Instant Runoff Voting for city elections? Eighteen of the twenty-seven candidates who will be on the Minneapolis general election ballot responded to these questions and more in the attached 2005 Candidate Questionnaire. The questionnaire was cosponsored by Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, League of Women Voters of Minneapolis, and Getting to the Bottom of the Ballot, as well as FairVote Minnesota. Before you vote, read what the candidates have to say!