When I lit drop for my independent campaign in Ward 11, I encounter older, mostly male and vocal residents who say there's no point, or they have no interest. I so much want to suggest to them that their indifference may be why things are as they are, but some people are just sick of it. The louder angry ones may be statistically negligable, but behind closed doors, I think a milder version of that attitude is prevalent. W11 hasn't been very close but for 2017, but some other recent ward races have been in the recount range. The mayor race feels very close to me, especially if the runners up among challengers bring votes up to Omar Fateh (assuming he is the #1 among the three now. I've begun to wonder.). Also, this bit about undecideds: Am I wrong that if you were undecided at that poll time that you might be window-shopping David or Hampton, but are probably not going to break for Omar Fateh? I'm a little surprised there isn't an explicit `Anyone but Omar'' campaign to blunt the `Don't Rank Frey' rally. We shall see.
Elections are a long process concluded by one person who wins the election. When they assume office they get 100% of the political power and authority of the office and they use that power as they think best. They don’t have power/ authority sharing arrangements with their opponents.
Given these obvious facts, it’s a complete mystery to me how we’ve been conned into believing that ranked choice voting is a better option. None of the promised rcv benefits—more moderate politics, elected officials who are more responsive to all their constituents— have accrued. We’re so proud that maybe 125k voters, out of roughly 333k eligible voters, are likely to cast ballots, but this means that we’re still likely to see several wards decided by relatively small numbers—three to four thousand— of active voters. And again, none of the winners will be sharing their power.
It seems best to me to acknowledge the reality and just vote for one person because in the end only one person will win the office. Why not just admit this reality and vote for the best candidate and let the chips fall land as they will. I’ll be voting for Frey and not ranking any other candidates, not because he is an ideal candidate but because I believe he is the best candidate in a severely compromised field.
If you asked me a year ago if I was an informed Minneapolis voter, I would have said yes. However, in reality, I was pretty uninformed. I am concerned about this fall's election. It will be a miracle if we achieve a 50% turnout. I assume if you asked Minneapolis residents who the mayor was, half would not know. If you asked who represents them on the City Council, less than 25% would know, and if you asked who their Park Board commissioner was, less than 5% would know. These are uninformed guesses on my part. Now that I am a Minneapolis Municipal Blogger, I know more, but I am still pretty uninformed. My point is that most people are uninformed, and the motivated and organized (and that seems to be the DSA crowd) can really sway. Everyone needs to wake up and at least understand who the mayoral candidates and their City Council Ward candidates are and what they stand for - plus actually vote.
When I lit drop for my independent campaign in Ward 11, I encounter older, mostly male and vocal residents who say there's no point, or they have no interest. I so much want to suggest to them that their indifference may be why things are as they are, but some people are just sick of it. The louder angry ones may be statistically negligable, but behind closed doors, I think a milder version of that attitude is prevalent. W11 hasn't been very close but for 2017, but some other recent ward races have been in the recount range. The mayor race feels very close to me, especially if the runners up among challengers bring votes up to Omar Fateh (assuming he is the #1 among the three now. I've begun to wonder.). Also, this bit about undecideds: Am I wrong that if you were undecided at that poll time that you might be window-shopping David or Hampton, but are probably not going to break for Omar Fateh? I'm a little surprised there isn't an explicit `Anyone but Omar'' campaign to blunt the `Don't Rank Frey' rally. We shall see.
Elections are a long process concluded by one person who wins the election. When they assume office they get 100% of the political power and authority of the office and they use that power as they think best. They don’t have power/ authority sharing arrangements with their opponents.
Given these obvious facts, it’s a complete mystery to me how we’ve been conned into believing that ranked choice voting is a better option. None of the promised rcv benefits—more moderate politics, elected officials who are more responsive to all their constituents— have accrued. We’re so proud that maybe 125k voters, out of roughly 333k eligible voters, are likely to cast ballots, but this means that we’re still likely to see several wards decided by relatively small numbers—three to four thousand— of active voters. And again, none of the winners will be sharing their power.
It seems best to me to acknowledge the reality and just vote for one person because in the end only one person will win the office. Why not just admit this reality and vote for the best candidate and let the chips fall land as they will. I’ll be voting for Frey and not ranking any other candidates, not because he is an ideal candidate but because I believe he is the best candidate in a severely compromised field.
If you asked me a year ago if I was an informed Minneapolis voter, I would have said yes. However, in reality, I was pretty uninformed. I am concerned about this fall's election. It will be a miracle if we achieve a 50% turnout. I assume if you asked Minneapolis residents who the mayor was, half would not know. If you asked who represents them on the City Council, less than 25% would know, and if you asked who their Park Board commissioner was, less than 5% would know. These are uninformed guesses on my part. Now that I am a Minneapolis Municipal Blogger, I know more, but I am still pretty uninformed. My point is that most people are uninformed, and the motivated and organized (and that seems to be the DSA crowd) can really sway. Everyone needs to wake up and at least understand who the mayoral candidates and their City Council Ward candidates are and what they stand for - plus actually vote.