A few weeks ago Andy Cilek of the Minnesota Voters Alliance appeared on the Final Word with Michael and me. Here's the recording. Tuesday I received an email that the MVA has succeeded in getting enough signatures on a petition to get party designations on the ballot in St. Paul municipal elections. From their press release:

Certification of the petition will place the question on the 2007 ballot, allowing voters to decide whether candidates should be identified on the ballot by party affiliation, which would also allow each party to advance from the primary and be represented in the general election along with each qualified independent candidate. ...

Nonpartisan elections deprive voters of knowledge (on the ballot) of the candidates' political affiliations, and fail to guarantee that more than one Party can be represented in the general election. This has alienated the electorate, stifled debate, resulted in many �one Party� elections, and has limited the accountability of elected officials who have no Party platform, or specifically stated principles to abide by.

I can imagine Mitch on a ballot sometime soon. Don't you think it's time people knew who they voted for? Doesn't the label mean anything?

Labels: elections