>2) We could provide local candidates with a certain amount of space -
>something like three short lines - to summarize the reasons they think they
>are the right choice for the position for which they're running. A
>candidate could outline their priorities, values, experience, party
>affiliation, or whatever info they think makes their case most strongly.
>This would, in my opinion, limit the influence of parties, increase voter
>participation in smaller, less-known races, and ensure a higher accuracy of
>representation.
Minneapolis already does a small part of this -- candidates are
allowed to put up to 3 words on the ballot besides their names. We could
certainly expand this. But given the size of the ballot, and the need for
a type size large enough to be read easily, you can only get about 4 words
on a line. So 3 lines would be maybe 12 words. If we do this, I'd suggest
at least the 25-words-or-less description should be a minimum.
And we would have to recognize that this has a cost -- it would
make the ballot larger (thus more expensive), or might even require 2
separate ballots for all the offices. And that would likely have an impact
on the turnout for the election. Note that last year, less than half the
people who voted for Mayor on the top of the ballot went all the way to the
bottom of the back side to vote for school board!
We'd also have to deal with the question of just what candidates
are allowed to say in this text, and are they allowed to see what their
opponents are going to say? What would we do if a candidate wanted to
include something like "I'm not the one who's a wife beater." in their
text? Or do we just accept anything the candidate wants to say, and leave
questions of false & misleading statements to be decided by Judges
afterwards? (Personally, I've had all I ever want of Judges deciding
elections for us!)
>A few questions: could we as a city change our ballot this way unilaterally?
>If so, which races would be covered? Could we offer these three lines to
>judges, county commissioners, legislative candidates, or candidates for
>statewide office?
I think the city could do this unilaterally, but it would take a
city charter amendment. And it would only affect the city races (Mayor,
City Council, Library Board, Park Board, Board of Estimate &
Taxation). Not Mpls School Board, that's actually the "Special School
District #1" as designated by the State Legislature, and they control
election rules for that.
Tim Bonham, Ward 12, Standish-Ericsson
>
>Robin Garwood
>Seward
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