Plan of Action - For nonpartisan elections.
The original objective of the Alliance was to submit a charter amendment to abolish the nonpartisan 'basis' elections for the St. Paul offices of mayor and city council in favor of partisan 'basis' elections.
A partisan 'basis' election is simply an election whereby the top vote-getter from each party advances to the general election, and the party affiliations of the candidates, if any, are disclosed on the ballot. Such elections ensure a greater diversity of viewpoints and stronger, more open elections!
Our proposed Charter amendment read:
@ All elections for the offices of Mayor and City Council shall be held on a partisan basis, with the party designations of the candidates printed on the ballot.
Our petition was rejected by the Ramsey County Charter Commission which said we had several hundred signatures that were no longer valid. Rather than contest the issue or finish gathering the needed signatures, we plan to take the issue to the courts after the 2009 elections, please check back for updates.