Don Jorovsky <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Let's talk about the election results in the city, now that the tallies are
all in. If we add them up, we see that the Gore-Lieberman ticket received
115,566 votes for a total of 67 percent; Bush-Cheney received 38,865 for
22.5 percent, and Nader-LaDuke received 18,180 for 10.5 percent.
>
>What does this mean in terms of what Minneapolitans want? There are many
possible interpretations, but I'll start with a controversial one just to
get the ball rolling (and to get people yelling at me): Nader was
overplayed. Very often when reading this list, one could get the impression
that Nader was the number one choice in Mpls, but his 10.5 percent showing
was in the end very weak, as voters came to their senses and exercised good
judgment.
=====
[KB] This is short-sighted, condescending, and misses many points that the
DFL would like ignored. There are significant groups of citizens who are
hungry for candidates (and parties) who represent their views. But the way
we elect our council members and other office holders conveniently shuts a
lot of citizens out of representation in the governing process.
10.5% of the votes represents more than a full Council seat. If we
Minneapolitans could vote for Council in a proportional representation
election, Greens all over the city could demonstrate whether they're "weak".
So could IP supporters or Libertarians ... or even Republicans! Or do
those 22.5% represent another "weak" showing who deserve only scorn but
nobody in the governing?
The DFL routinely gets 67% of the votes citywide. Currently 12 of the 13
council members are DFLers ... 92.3%. This kind of unrepresentativeness
needs to be corrected.
-- Ken Bearman, King Field
11-1, 60B, HC 3, CD5
