Big ballot
For Minneapolis voters, knowing whom you support for mayor may be half the challenge at the polls this Election Day. The other half will be locating them among a list of 35 candidates.
The Minnesota Secretary of State's office posted a tool on its website Thursday (tinyurl.com/MNballot) that allows people to enter their addresses and view an exact copy of what they will see on Nov. 5.
The list of 35 mayoral candidates is the most stunning facet of the two-sided ballot. It's the most mayoral candidates in city history, and ranked-choice voting has eliminated the primary — a normal winnowing process.
Not only will voters have to locate their first-choice candidate, but also their second and third choices. The complexity is partly why the city is gearing up with extra election judges.
Staffing preparations
Minneapolis officials are making staffing decisions for Election Day based on the possibility of a 75 percent voter turnout to ensure there are enough election judges at the polls.
The city's elections director, Grace Wachlarowicz, on Thursday asked the City Council to approve a list of election judges for the city's 117 precincts. The expected number of judges, 1,700, is based on a turnout of 75 percent.
Wachlarowicz said in an e-mail Thursday night that 75 percent is not a prediction, but a guide for determining the number of judges needed. "We are using a 75 % turnout to ensure to the best of our ability to have enough judges in the polls to serve the voters better" and overstaff rather than understaff, Wachlarowicz wrote.
While turnout reached 81 percent in the 2012 presidential and state elections, no municipal election in recent city history comes close to 75 percent. The nearest was 46 percent in 1997.
