I could imagine a candidate who would be supported byBecause Minnesota law prohibits this.
local Green, DFL, and GOP voters. Why should they not
get all three endorsements?
. . .
- Jason goray, Sheridan, NE.
I must disagree with my good friend Mr. Bonham. Minnesota law prohibits fusion of party **nominations** (not endorsements) in partisan races. In other words, the same candidate cannot appear twice on the ballot as the nominee of more than one political party.
Minneapolis does not have partisan primaries. Multiple candidates from the same party compete all together in one open primary, with the top two vote getters going to the general election. The "fusion" problem doesn't exist because of the open primary -- there is no official party "nominee" because there is no partisan primary to select a single candidate to represent a party.
The only real restriction on multiple endorsements is the city ordinance which allows a candidate for City Council or Mayor to list three words on the ballot to describe their political party or principle. The ordinance, as interpreted by the city, prohibits a candidate from listing more than one party or principle on the ballot, even if it could be compressed into 3 words. Last year, for example, several city council candidates filed as "DFL Endorsed," and got into trouble because the city elections office did not think that "DFL Endorsed" was a political party OR a principle. As a result, the city elections office told those candidates that they would be listed as "Democratic-Farmer-Labor" on the ballot. I believe some candidates actually filed suit to stop this, but I don't know how the lawsuit turned out.
As interpreted by the city, a candidate cannot use the 3 words to identify more than one political party. "DFL/Republican" is out of bounds - a candidate can list only one party, DFL or Republican.
The bottom line is that a candidate for City Council or Mayor in Minneapolis may receive more than one party's endorsement, but may only list one party affiliation on the ballot.
It is up to the candidate to educate the voters about any other party endorsements they receive.
Greg Abbott
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Sent from the computer of:
Greg Abbott [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Linden Hills
13th Ward (612) 925-0630
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