MN Voters Alliance News
Upcoming Events
- Our IRV case against the City of Mpls will be heard by Judge George F. McGunnigle (appointed by Gov. Ventura) in the Hennepin County District Court on October 8, 2008 at 8:30AM. All are welcome to attend! A press conference will immediately follow the hearing.
- We are expecting soon to announce the beginning of our petition drive in St. Paul to require PHOTO ID when voting.
- We were invited to speak at the Bloomington Rotary Club meeting, date and time TBA.
In The News
- The Asheville (No. Carolina) Citizen Times published our OpEd piece rebutting IRV on their website, September 2, 2008. (view article)
- We appeared as invited guests on Mitch Berg's radio program at the State Fair, Saturday, August 30th, on AM1280.
- FairVote intervenes in our lawsuit against the City of Minneapolis. They apparently felt that the City Attorney could not adequately defend IRV. See our stipulation.
- We spoke at the St. Paul City Council hearing on July 2nd. (see www.stpaul.gov for details. Video here.) While most City Council members appeared to ignore the arguments against IRV, they at least made the correct decision to NOT place IRV on the ballot.
- IRV is NOT about race! Minneapolis City Council member Ralph Remington and Senator Mee Moua co-authored a ridiculous and self-serving article in the Spokesman-Recorder saying IRV helps persons of color. IRV hurts ALL voters because they can't know if they are helping or hurting their favorite candidate. (See Flaw #3)
- Instant-runoff voting is "more likely than not" to be found unconstitutional, according to the St. Paul City Attorney John Choi's June 08 letter to the City Council. (See also Pioneer Press Article)
- We were guest speakers at the Edina “Golden K” Kiwanis Club on Tuesday, May 27th. Our message was well received.
- We spoke at the St. Paul Charter Commission meeting on April 21st. We got our main points across and gave the commission a copy of our litigation backgrounder and other information. The Commission overwhelmingly voted (6-2) to oppose placing IRV on the ballot!
- We were recently featured in an article in the City Pages and two separate articles in the Pioneer Press. Article 1 Article 2
- North Carolina Coalition for Verified Voting (NCCVV) supports the Minnesota Voters Alliance legal challenge against Instant Runoff Voting
- The AP and the Star Tribune covered the announcement of our legal challenge. The coverage was a bit slanted. (See our response.)
- Wheelock Whitney and Stanley Hubbard have contributed to our legal challenge. (see story)
- We have retained the Minneapolis law firm of Mohrmann and Kaardal to represent us in our legal challenge of IRV. UPDATE: Our challenge was filed as we announced on December 20.
- Andy Cilek appeared at the Minnesota Senate hearing on IRV on November 20th. There were 6 speakers Pro-IRV, and only one Anti-IRV. (see Pioneer Press) (see Our Response)
- Our Op Ed piece, which was censored from the St. Paul Pioneer Press and from the Mpls Star Tribune, was published in the St. Cloud Times.
- We extended an IRV debate invitation to Jeanne Massey of FairVoteMN and former St. Paul Mayor George Latimer. Regretfully, Massey turned down our invitation and we haven't heard from the former Mayor.
- The Star Tribune interviewed Andy Cilek for an article saying IRV may be unconstitutional after all. It appeared Thursday, September 19, 2007.
- We were featured live from the State Fair, Friday, August 24th on the Jason Lewis show! KTLK100.3 FM, 6:30-7PM - It went great!
- In June, Matt Marchetti attended a forum on IRV held by the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce. Sadly, the event was more of a promotion of IRV than a real debate. It was also covered very poorly by the Pioneer Press.
- Andy Cilek spoke at the so-called nonpartisan Civic Caucus in Bloomington on May 3rd 2007 and stated they were a largely partisan Democratic group whose only interest is furthering their own agenda.
- On March 7th, we appeared on Minnesota Matters on Air America, the Jason Lewis show on March 19th, the Taxpayers League program on March 24th and the Northern Alliance Program on March 31st.
- Our efforts were recently cited in a Pioneer Press article 1/2/2007 and in the Highland Villager.
- We had the privilege of writing the "Opposing Arguments" against IRV in the Star Tribune Voters' Guide, November 2006.
- On October 25th, 2006 Andy Cilek and Mpls City Council President Barb Johnson spoke at the Victory Neighborhood Lutheran Church meeting about the negative effects of Instant Runoff Voting.
- We were recently featured in the Star Tribune on 9/5/06 and on 9/26/06.
- We had the opportunity to introduce our group to the Minneapolis Business Forum on February 1st and the Minnetonka Rotary on April 26th.
TBA
- We are are exploring the possibility of getting our own Minnesota Voters' Alliance weekly radio program sometime in 2008. Please check back for details!
- We plan to introduce our organization to as many political parties as possible including Independence, DFL, GOP, Libertarian, Green and Constitution parties as well as nonprofit organizations.
