IN THIS ISSUE
Candidate questionnaire| New Endorsements| IRV in Demand | Campaign Update | IRV Election Watch Council Candidates Answer IRV Questions St. Paul City Council campaigns are heating up as we near Election Day! The Better Ballot Campaign partnered with the Minnesota Council of Non Profits, the Saint Paul League of Women Voters and the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group (MNPIRG) on a candidate questionnaire. Of the thirteen candidates remaining in the election, eight responded to questions about IRV and election reform. Most of the incumbents didn't respond. Those who responded include CM Debbie Montgomery and Melvin Carter (W1), Bill Hosko (W2), Russ Stark and Terry Bushard (W4), David Haas (W5), Pakou Hang (W6) and CM Kathy Lantry (W7). Of these, Melvin Carter, Russ Stark, Terry Bushard, David Haas and Pakou Hang indicate strong support for IRV. Click here to see what the bold responders said. White House Project & More Endorse IRV Women candidates are shown to fair better under IRV than our current voting system and, for this reason, the White House Project endorses Instant Runoff Voting. The White House Project, a national organization that "aims to advance women's leadership in all communities and sectors - up to the U.S. presidency - by filling the leadership pipeline with a richly diverse, critical mass of women." Several new community leaders and another union have also endorsed the Better Ballot Campaign's efforts to bring IRV to Saint Paul, including Unite Here - Local 17, Cheryl Dickson, former President and CEO of the Minnesota Humanities Commission; Bill Cosgriff, Attorney, Briggs and Morgan PA; and Bill Sands - Chairman, Western Bancshares, Inc. Click here to see all of our endorsements. IRV In Demand
Campus chapters of MPIRG invited the St. Paul Better Ballot Campaign to present Instant Runoff Voting as part of a growing interest in democratic and electoral reforms among college students. MPIRG members already volunteered many evenings this summer to door-knock St. Paul neighborhoods for petition signatures. Students bring new energy and ideas to the way that we will educate voters about IRV, once it passes in St. Paul. Several of St. Paul's New Century Club members decided to join in the activities of the St. Paul Better Campaign after campaign volunteer Ellen Brown's engaging presentation to the Club on October 24th. Earlier this month, the St. Paul League of Women Voters devoted its monthly member meet-up to IRV and the League plans to work with the Better Ballot Campaign educating more voters about IRV in the coming months. Campaign Update Petition still alive. Our nearly 5,500 petition signatures are more than enough to put Instant Runoff Voting on the ballot in St. Paul in the fall of 2008, but we still need another 1,500 signatures to ensure that more than enough are validated by the city clerk next year. We continue to gather petition signatures at events and need your help. Keep your clipboards out and passing them around! Contact us to volunteer at events or in other ways. IRV under review by Charter Commission. The St. Paul Charter Commission, like the City Council, can vote to put the IRV question on the ballot next fall and has assigned the Charter Review Committee to assess this possibility. After the election, the new St. Paul City Council could also put the IRV question on the ballot, and of course the campaign will be asking the council members to do just that! IRV Election Watch For the first time, voters in Cary (a suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina) went to the polls on October 9th using IRV and this means that they don't have to go back for a runoff on November 6th . The runoff was done on a single election day, saving voters a second trip to the polls, candidates the extra money they'd need to spend on a runoff campaign and the city an estimated $28,000 by not setting up the polling locations twice. Exit polls and voter interviews from Cary show that voters like their new way of voting! Hendersonville, North Carolina, will also be using IRV for the first time on November 6th this year. Voters there will join veteran IRV voters in Cambridge (MA) and San Francisco (CA) and second-time IRV voters in Takoma Park (MD). Stay tuned for election results in these cities and for news on ballot measures in Sarasota (FL), Aspen (CO) and Clallam County (WA). Read more at www.FairVote.Org. STAY TUNED FOR THE POST ELECTION EDITION OF THE BETTER BALLOT CAMPAIGN E-NEWS Click here for past issues of the St. Paul Better Ballot Campaign Newsletter.
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