Letters to the editor
A better way to elect our city officials
So many candidates, and so few voters to decide
their fate—and our future leaders in city hall. Ten candidates
ran in the primary for the 8th ward council seat and all but two
have been disqualified by just 20 percent of voters.
With 15 percent turnout citywide, this election
doesn't measure up to the democratic standard of majority rule.
Two-round nonpartisan elections are supposed
to ensure majority winners, but this requirement is defeated by
low-turnout primaries. Candidates who could win in a high-turnout
general election are weeded out in round one.
A better voting method known as Instant Runoff
Voting (IRV) solves this problem by eliminating the primary and
ensuring a majority winner in one election.
IRV allows voters to rank candidates in order
of preference. If a candidate receives a majority of first choices,
that candidate wins. If not, the candidate with the fewest votes
is eliminated and votes cast for this candidate are transferred
to the second choice listed on each ballot. That process is repeated
until there is a majority winner.
San Francisco now uses IRV, and several other
cities have approved or are considering it as an alternative to
traditional runoff systems. It not only ensures majority rule, saves
money and increases voter participation but it also allows people
to vote their choice without “wasting” their vote, more
accurately measures voter preferences, encourages more candidates
to run without "spoiling" the election and improves campaign
discourse.
After careful study, the League of Women Voters
of Minnesota has endorsed IRV for state and local elections. Let's
consider its studied recommendation and move toward a better functioning
democracy in Minneapolis.
Jeanne Massey
Minneapolis
Smart libraries are OPEN libraries
The mission of the Minneapolis Library Board
is to “link the people of Minneapolis and beyond with the
transforming power of knowledge.” I believe this is a beautiful
need that can be fulfilled in a myriad of creative and dynamic ways,
thereby increasing the number of library card holders in the city,
increasing the amount of materials checked out, expanding the research
that is done by individuals and groups and enhancing the kinds of
programs that meet the unique needs of folks in our community. Here
are a few ideas of how the Minneapolis Library system can improve
its outreach efforts:
1. Partner with community groups to offer exciting
programs in library meeting rooms. For example: link with community
garden groups to plan spring gardens over the winter; partner with
the Minnesota Spoken Word Association and SASE: The Write Place;
offer youth Poetry Slams, author readings and writing workshops;
work with “new immigrant “community groups to hold English
classes and other activities that assist new residents of the city;
work with community groups to offer film series across the city.
The possibilities are endless ...
2. Work with community schools to increase youth
literacy. For example: encourage schools to plan field trips to
libraries to teach youth how to do research; start youth book clubs
and read-a-thons that will ignite the desire to read.
3. Bring back The People's University to the
libraries to provide a platform for skill and information-sharing
on a no-cost basis in order to provide lifelong continuing education.
4. Take the library to the streets. For example:
refund the Bookmobile as a top priority!
Examine and adopt models from other U.S. cities
wherein outreach staff leave the library and bring books, magazines
and computers to street corners to engage folks who may never have
used the library before; recruit outreach staff that look like and
speak like our changing city, including speakers of Spanish, Hmong
and African dialects.
By improving outreach efforts and bringing more
people to the library to learn and develop our collective human
intelligence, the transforming power of knowledge is translated
into positive community action for change.
I am running for Library Board to make this transformation
possible!
Samantha Smart
Candidate for Library Board, Minneapolis
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