I'll agree that overall the low voter turnout is pathetic, but I do want to defend the honor of my old neighborhood. Precinct 3-1 is Dinkytown, where a great portion of the registered voters in the voter file have moved and a great number (probably a majority) of the eligible voters have only moved into the neighborhood within the last month. A lot of student voters are simply not motivated by local city issues and are seldom targeted by campaigns to engage their interest. In the neighboring precincts in the Second Ward students are getting a lot more attention from the campaigns, but I haven't heard of any similar effort being made by the Hofstede or Neumann campaigns. I don't think that's necessarily neglect, since the Third Ward stretches into three distinct communities (North, Northeast and Southeast) and I'm sure there are plenty of neighborhood events that are demanding their attention. Loki Anderson Downtown (formerly Dinkytown)
Erik Riese <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Greetings List! Many folks have mentioned turnout in the Citywide Primary. Unofficial totals show 14.67% city wide. Singling out Ward 3 Precinct 1 2.14% of the registered voters showed up to vote! This is pathetic! We need to do something about how little the citizens care about their government. Perhaps we should institute an election quorum. Say 60% in a primary and 85% in a general. Unless we get that level of participation the election is void and we have to have a do over. At some point we could force a rotation of the candidates. The candidates would be forced to put their efforts into real get out the vote instead of just getting out their voters. Minneapolis should lead the way in voter turn-out the MPLS-Issues list is a tool that should inspire participation. We need to change what is going on. In cooperation, Erik Riese Seward US@: A great place to live, work, learn, create and play. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls --------------------------------- Yahoo! for Good Click here to donate to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
