As a recruiter of poll runners and a runner myself, I found this "Politics in Minnesota" story of interest. It appears Minneapolis and Hennepin County are way behind St. Paul and Ramsey County in posting instant campaign results. I hope this will be fixed for the next election. Bill Dooley (Kenny) "Today, with electronic scan machines and the Internet, poll watching on election night can be instantaneous, as was the case in the St. Paul mayor's race. By nearly 8:15 p.m., it was clear that polls in the media in the weeks leading up to the election were going to match the results at the polling places in St. Paul. In fact, all of the results in Ramsey County, from the Maplewood mayor's race, to the referendum on whether or not restaurants in Circle Pines should sell liquor on Sundays, were being updated in real time on the net. The interface of election results and the remarkable speed of posting them on the Internet is the handy work of Ramsey County's election guru Joe Manske. Meanwhile, when we went to the Hennepin County site, there was nothing and no plans to host results for the off-year election. Voters had to be dependent on the City of Minneapolis' (the largest city in the state) web site, where we were greeted with a message stating that no results would be updated until 9:30 p.m. In 2005, for media covering an election, for candidates and for the public, that hour and a half is a lifetime. By the time Minneapolis started putting election results on the Internet, Mayor Randy Kelly had already given his concession speech and city council and local candidates in Ramsey County were planning the next stage of their political lives. In fact, in Minneapolis, we found out campaigns were still doing it the old fashioned way, depending on poll watchers to call in results. There was nothing at the Hennepin County Web site. And even today, three days after the election, there are no results from any election in Hennepin County. The election manager in Hennepin County is Michelle DesJardin. We wonder why she hasn't taken the Ramsey County model to the state's largest county. One ray of hope is Hennepin County Board Chair Randy Johnson, who has championed technology for counties across the country, may see this as something that should be ready to go for 2006." 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.
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