Are you voting tomorrow?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Yes, due to a quirk in a referendum impacting the scheduling of Minneapolis City Council elections we have them now despite having them already just two years ago, and will be for a two year term as well. 2027 will be the only year this decade there are no elections in Minneapolis (barring a special election or referendum or something.)

This is also the least invested in my lifetime election I've ever experienced, (aside from things like a special state legislative election I voted in once where a DFL candidate was literally running unopposed), I have four candidates on the ballot. Two are absolutely atrocious, one is pretty bad, and one is fairly bad. And from what I gather that's the situation in most of the wards. I can suck it up and vote for the "fairly bad" candidate sure, but because of the ranked voting I actually have three votes, so I think I might just do two of my write-ins as a protest and then rank him or something.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

No but my parents are.

What happened to the Green Party guy who lost? Is he running again?

Which one are you referring to?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

No but my parents are.

What happened to the Green Party guy who lost? Is he running again?

Which one are you referring to?

Cam Gordon and the parks and rec lady?

Neither is running, the Parks Board isn't even up.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Yes, I'll go to my polling place before work. Will be my most "left-wing" vote in my lifetime I think, though that's just an artifact of what's on the ballot this time around -- Yes on Issue 1 (to enshrine an abortion right in the Ohio Constitution), Yes on Issue 2 (to legalize marijuana), and for a local judgeship I'm voting for the only candidate not touting very tough-on-crime policies on her website (on the grounds that her one opponent seems like an unserious crank; her other opponent seems both really harsh and is endorsed by a dozen unions; she is the only one promising to cut the court's expenditures; and she's also endorsed by multiple local newspapers and is therefore running a relatively serious campaign though I expect the union candidate to win). Also I don't think the area I'm living in has a particular problem with crime at the moment and acting like it does is silly. I am voting for my local county GOP's recommendations for school board, though (this is meaningless because there are 3 candidates running for 3 slots, so everybody wins; I'll be voting for only the 2 of them that have the endorsement).

Funnily enough if we switched places we'd probably vote the same way, I know you wouldn't vote for either of the absolutely atrocious candidates mentioned, although maybe you'd preference the Abolish Bike Lanes guy depending on how you feel about bike lanes. I'd obviously vote the same way as you on the referendums and from what you said for that judge candidate.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Also this is frustrating because The Hotelier are playing Minneapolis tomorrow. That means I can't stay home and watch the election results roll in. I can on my phone...but that's not something you want to do at a show. And all of the key states report early for me, although Pennsylvania usually takes awhile to count. Kentucky is a case where I really hope it's obvious early on Beshear won, because him losing would put a damper on the evening and isn't something I want to find out right before The Hotelier plays.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Yes, I'll go to my polling place before work. Will be my most "left-wing" vote in my lifetime I think, though that's just an artifact of what's on the ballot this time around -- Yes on Issue 1 (to enshrine an abortion right in the Ohio Constitution), Yes on Issue 2 (to legalize marijuana), and for a local judgeship I'm voting for the only candidate not touting very tough-on-crime policies on her website (on the grounds that her one opponent seems like an unserious crank; her other opponent seems both really harsh and is endorsed by a dozen unions; she is the only one promising to cut the court's expenditures; and she's also endorsed by multiple local newspapers and is therefore running a relatively serious campaign though I expect the union candidate to win). Also I don't think the area I'm living in has a particular problem with crime at the moment and acting like it does is silly. I am voting for my local county GOP's recommendations for school board, though (this is meaningless because there are 3 candidates running for 3 slots, so everybody wins; I'll be voting for only the 2 of them that have the endorsement).

Funnily enough if we switched places we'd probably vote the same way, I know you wouldn't vote for either of the absolutely atrocious candidates mentioned, although maybe you'd preference the Abolish Bike Lanes guy depending on how you feel about bike lanes. I'd obviously vote the same way as you on the referendums and from what you said for that judge candidate.

Very vaguely in favor, I guess (although not in favor of bike lane mandates if the practical effect is building fewer roads), but the issue is so low-priority for me that I would almost certainly latch on to something random on this person's website -- either a weird issue position or a weird career history -- to decide whether I like them or not.

He doesn't even have a website and seems to be a single issue candidate.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I just voted. As you can see I was only #77, and there were only 133 early votes cast in my precinct per the city of Minneapolis's very good early voter tracking site....so #210 overall out of 2238 registered voters*. That indicates rather low turnout, but it's also kind of meaningless because there aren't even Minneapolis city-wide elections up.

*This is a very "transient" precinct where a lot of people move in and out frequently, so I'd wager a good chunk of those are no longer residing here and haven't updated their registrations. However probably just as many new people have moved in as well to replace them and could theoretically register same day under Minnesota's laws.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

We need a "No, I am an American, but I live in a colony." option.

That's option 2. Puerto Rico still has elections the same years the mainland US does.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Well looks like turnout in Minneapolis may at least top 2009.

https://twitter.com/VoteMpls/status/1721968353466585107

For the record in 2009 R.T. Rybak was running essentially unopposed with only joke opposition and that was also true for most of the City Council so it's no surprise turnout dragged there.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Well looks like turnout in Minneapolis may at least top 2009.

https://twitter.com/VoteMpls/status/1721968353466585107
For the record in 2009 R.T. Rybak was running essentially unopposed with only joke opposition and that was also true for most of the City Council so it's no surprise turnout dragged there.

It's funny that the local DFL has moved so far to the left that Andrea Jenkins is now some kind of moderate centrist.

We don't have results for ranked choice vote yet, so it's possible that Minneapolis will avoid becoming the first midwestern soviet commune... at least for the next two years.

Based on the early results Frey still has a veto proof bloc.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Well looks like turnout in Minneapolis may at least top 2009.

https://twitter.com/VoteMpls/status/1721968353466585107
For the record in 2009 R.T. Rybak was running essentially unopposed with only joke opposition and that was also true for most of the City Council so it's no surprise turnout dragged there.

It's funny that the local DFL has moved so far to the left that Andrea Jenkins is now some kind of moderate centrist.

We don't have results for ranked choice vote yet, so it's possible that Minneapolis will avoid becoming the first midwestern soviet commune... at least for the next two years.

Based on the early results Frey still has a veto proof bloc.

Do you know if the DFL is already talking about who could replace Frey in a couple years? Any personal preferences?

It's unclear if he runs again, if he does he's no doubt favored, if he doesn't then I imagine it'll be a free for all.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

We need a "No, I am an American, but I live in a colony." option.

That's option 2. Puerto Rico still has elections the same years the mainland US does.

Puerto Rico does not have midterm elections.

Is your non-voting delegate to the House not elected for a 2-year term?