FairVote Minnesota, the League of Women Voters-Saint Paul, the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MPIRG) are co-sponsoring a questionnaire to the city council candidates on the general election ballot this November in Saint Paul.  Candidates were sent the questionnaire September 21st and were asked to return responses by October 1st.   All responses will be published on the FairVote Minnesota and Better Ballot Campaign websites.  Please check back after October 1st to see how the candidates responded to the questions.

Here is a list of the questions asked:

There is a citizen’s petition drive underway to put a charter amendment on the Saint Paul ballot to adopt Instant Runoff Voting for municipal elections.  The purpose of this questionnaire is to discover the candidates’ views on this charter amendment initiative. We would also like your views on another emerging election reform issue relating to the schedule of elections.

1.      The current two-stage election system is criticized by some for diminishing voter participation due to low turnout in primaries and reduced choice in general elections, and for adding unnecessary costs to the city and campaigns, since the two elections could be combined in an "instant runoff" on general election day.  Advocates of “instant runoff voting” propose eliminating the primary election and using instead a single instant runoff election to allow voters to rank their first choice candidates followed by their runoff choices.  Runoff choices would receive a vote in the event their first choice cannot win. Others say the current two-round (primary-general) election system works just fine and provides an effective way to elect local officials. What election system do you think would most efficiently and effectively discover the will of the voters and why.

2.      The Saint Paul Better Ballot Campaign has stated that it has gathered the requisite number of signatures to put the question of Instant Runoff Voting on the November 2008 ballot.  The Campaign, nonetheless, has often said that it would prefer that the City Council vote to put the measure on the ballot, with the support of the Charter Commission. Whichever entity – whether the Campaign (via certified petition), the Charter Commission or City Council – forwards the question to the ballot has the authority to construct the language of the question. If elected to City Council, which method would you prefer used to move the referendum to the ballot and why?

3.      Another emerging charter reform question involves the choice of election years for municipal races in Saint Paul. Currently, the city council and school board races are held concurrently every four years in odd numbered years. The mayoral election is also held every four years in the odd year in between the council elections. Do you like the way municipal elections are currently scheduled or do you support the idea of holding the mayoral election in the same year as the city council and school board elections (i.e. all in 2009 or all in 2011)?  Please explain.