Election 2013: Any Requests?

[naomikritzer]

So, I've written about the St. Paul races I can vote in and the contested Minneapolis races I would have been able to vote in if I still lived at my old house (which was in Ward 12; my old neighbors have the Mayoral race, Ward 12 City Council, Park Board At-Large, Board of Estimate and Taxation, and the City Charter. There's also a Park Board district seat but that's uncontested.)

There are a bunch of contested Park Board races and City Council seats. Does anyone have a specific request? Because I've been having fun writing these and there's a month left before the election. If you want me to write up a race in your neighborhood, it would be helpful if you left an address of a building in your ward, so that I can pull up an actual sample ballot and see exactly who's on it. (It doesn't have to be YOUR address. I mean, it COULD be -- I'm not planning to drive to use this information to TP your house or anything -- but so long as it's a real address in your precinct it'll work.)

If you live outside of Minneapolis or St. Paul, you can certainly make a request, but I'm less likely to fulfill it. I'd say that as a general rule, the further you are from my house, the less likely I am to fulfill your request, although there are certainly exceptions.

Comments

[arkuat]

I would desperately love it if you could cover the incumbentless Ward 5 council race. I have come up with my own list-of-three that I plan to vote for in the order I plan to vote for them, but I'm not very happy with it. Any additional light you could shed on these candidates would be appreciated.

Of course you will probably already know this, but we're talking about DFLers Brett Buckner, Blong Yang, and Ian Alexander, and the Green candidate Kale Severson. If there are any others running for this seat, I've lost track of them.

[arkuat]

Oh right; an example of an address in this ward is: 237 Humboldt Ave N, 55405.

[oboegoddess.livejournal.com]

Hey, are you my neighbor?? I think I recognize your picture and the address you gave is next door to me! :-)

[arkuat]

Yep, that's me, Eric. I'm actually across the street from you though, upstairs from the other Emily.

[naomikritzer]

You probably saw it, but just in case someone else wanders by, it's here: http://naomikritzer.livejournal.com/279532.html

[ckd]

I suppose the Cambridge City Council race is out, then? :-)

(Robert Winters pretty much has it covered anyway.)

[naomikritzer]

Parsing out a political race in another state is sort of like trying to understand the fandom debates about a TV show you've never watched. People are very excited about certain things, and there are names that get flung around and you're just supposed to GET the significance, and sometimes there are abbreviations that you are unlikely to readily find with Google because they are so specific.

The necessary background reading to say anything intelligent at all is kind of daunting.

[ebongreen.livejournal.com]

As a citizen of Minneapolis Ward 3, I'd be curious what you have to say about Hofstede - Frey - Gronquist - Katch for City Council. :)

[naomikritzer]

I'll need an address.

[ebongreen.livejournal.com]

333 8th St SE, Minneapolis, 55414.

[naomikritzer]

Did this one: http://naomikritzer.livejournal.com/281015.html

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

I'd be curious on your take of my previous ward (Ward 6, incumbent in uphill battle against Somali candidate with DFL endorsement) and my new ward (Ward 10, incumbent in uphill battle against someone else with DFL endorsement).

[naomikritzer]

I'll need an address.

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

For Ward 6, 1415 E 22nd St (that's the address of the old polling location for Ward 6 Precinct 6).

For Ward 10, 2456 Harriet Ave S.

[naomikritzer]

Ward 6: http://naomikritzer.livejournal.com/279904.html
Ward 10: http://naomikritzer.livejournal.com/279757.html

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I read them.

Were it not for her vote on the stadium, I would probably be voting for the incumbent in Ward 10.

My suspicion in Ward 6 is that the local developer previously convicted of bribing a city councilman is deeply involved (in a not good way) in this election.

[riverrocks.livejournal.com]

My street got redistricted. Again. I don't know where to vote now (the old polling place got closed last time, doubt they will open it up now), but I can figure that out. We seem to be in ward 9 now, but the city council person I thought was good for that ward isn't running again so my mailbox is full of campaign mailers for new folks. What is your take on that race? 3239 Park Ave Minneapolis

[naomikritzer]

To find your polling place (and look at a sample ballot), go to http://pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us/

[naomikritzer]

Ward 9: http://naomikritzer.livejournal.com/280287.html

[uptowner1.livejournal.com]

Please write about the Ward 10 race! We need to make people aware how bad Meg Tuthill's tenure at City Hall has been for the ward and city. She's been one of the biggest impediments to growth and is a reactionary and completely ineffectual leader.

[coho29.livejournal.com]

For fun, do a web search on "Meg Tuthill patios", or "Meg Tuthill voicemail", or "Meg Tuthill suspend campaign". Bonus points (not that you don't already have a zillion of those) for looking up Matt Filner, who kept his promise to suspend his campaign in 2009, thus clearing the way for Tuthill to come to power in the first place.

[naomikritzer]

Here is my analysis of the Ward 10 race: http://naomikritzer.livejournal.com/279757.html

[rgeorge.livejournal.com]

You know, I was going to ask if there was any chance that Ward 1 Council might be in your queue... (an address: 2816 Stinson)

But applying the googles and using your usual approach, it's pretty straightforward/boring:

Kevin Reich (DFL), incumbent, only real candidate (ie. has web site.) Voted for the stadium, though, which resulted in...
Mark Fox (Independent). Is explicitly "not running" ( http://2013.electmarkfox.us ). Likes to complain about Kevin Reich and the stadium.
Vincent Coffeen (Arr Matey). No web site, generic activity reports on Facebook. Totally appears in a photo with Bruce Schneier!

So, um, unless you know of something really awful about Kevin Reich...? The stadium thing is a minus, but not a total F, and he seems sane otherwise (especially by comparison.) Bruce Schneier is cool but I'd want to see an actual endorsement from him to vote for the pirate.

Thank you for reviewing all these other now-irrelevant-to-you Minneapolis races, especially park commissioner. I'm once again mostly voting a straight Naomikritzer ticket.

[naomikritzer]

I see Bruce Schneier on a semi-regular basis by way of local fandom and although I wouldn't describe him as effusively friendly, if you want your picture with him I don't think he'll dodge. So yeah, I wouldn't consider that an actual endorsement.

I think it's worth noting that Mark Fox is actually a Republican, according to information on his Facebook site, although apparently he's not-running as an Independent.

I'd vote for Kevin Reich unless you really hate him or REALLY want to Send A Message about the Vikings stadium. (And in this race, I'd be hesitant to vote for Mark Fox to send a message, unless you honestly want to see him elected. If you want to vote #1 for Jack Sparrow in the mayoral race, you can do it without any risk of throwing the election to him, but in a three-person low-turnout race with IRV, it's not super likely that so many people will say to themselves, "I'll mark my first choice as Mark Fox to send a message about the stadium" that he'll actually get elected, but you never know. Or at least, I think it's going to take a few more elections like this before we can make that sort of prediction with any particular confidence.)