I’m voting!

Hey civics-oriented peo­ple all around,

I’m vot­ing today, and I think you should, too!

For the sake of me talk­ing to a wall, I’m going to list for whom and what I’m vot­ing on my bal­lot (or for whom or what I would vote on other bal­lots) below.

(Also, I think all anti-LGBT ini­tia­tives out there should be voted down. I sup­port Jon Corzine for gov­er­nor of New Jer­sey. I’m ambiva­lent regard­ing Michael Bloomberg’s seem­ingly impend­ing reelec­tion as mayor of New York City.)

This is the 2009 elec­tions in my eyes and in a nut­shell.

UPDATE (01:47): Two 3^rd choices on here are a bit tongue-in-cheek, as I did not find a can­di­date with whom I was com­fort­able enough. I’ll leave you to guess which. :)

Min­neapo­lis Mayor
1st choice	2nd choice	3rd choice
R.T. Rybak DFL	Tom Fiske Social­ist Work­ers	Joey Lom­bard Is Awe­some
Min­neapo­lis City Coun­cil — Ward Nine
1st choice	2nd choice	3rd choice
Gary Schiff DFL	Dave Bick­ing Green	Khalif Jama DFL
Min­neapo­lis Board of Esti­mate and Tax­a­tion
1st choice	2nd choice	3rd choice
David Wheeler	Carol Becker	R. Michael Martens
Min­neapo­lis Park and Recre­ation Board Com­mis­sion­ers — At Large
1st choice	2nd choice	3rd choice
Annie Young	Mary Mer­rill Ander­son	Tom Nordyke
Min­neapo­lis Park and Recre­ation Board Com­mis­sioner — Dis­trict Three
1st choice	2nd choice	3rd choice
Scott Vree­land	Mike Wen­dorf	Sir Dr. Stephen T. Col­bert, D.F.A.
Char­ter Amend­ment Num­ber 168 — Pro­posal to Change the Com­po­si­tion of the Board of Esti­mate and Tax­a­tion
Should the City of Min­neapo­lis adopt a change in its char­ter to the com­po­si­tion of the Board of Esti­mate and Tax­a­tion so that the Board’s mem­ber­ship con­sists of the mem­bers of the City Coun­cil, with the actions of the Board sub­ject to the pow­ers and duties of the Mayor?
YES
Saint Paul Mayor
Christo­pher B. Cole­man
Instant Runoff Vot­ing Char­ter Amend­ment (Saint Paul)
Shall Chap­ter 7 of the City Char­ter be amended to require that the method for elect­ing the Mayor and City Coun­cil mem­bers be by Sin­gle Trans­fer­able Vot­ing, some­times known as Ranked Choice Vot­ing or Instant Runoff Vot­ing (IRV), which is a method with­out a sep­a­rate pri­mary elec­tion by which vot­ers rank can­di­dates for an office in order of pref­er­ence on a sin­gle bal­lot: first, sec­ond, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and so on; and votes are then counted in rounds until one can­di­date emerges with a major­ity of votes cast; and with bal­lot for­mat and rules for count­ing votes adopted by ordi­nance?
YES
School Dis­trict Bal­lot Ques­tion — Approval of School Dis­trict Ref­er­en­dum Rev­enue Autho­riza­tion (Anoka-Hennepin School Dis­trict #11)
The board of Anoka-Hennepin Inde­pen­dent School Dis­trict No. 11 has pro­posed to increase its gen­eral edu­ca­tion rev­enue by $165.62 per pupil. A por­tion of this pro­posed ref­er­en­dum rev­enue autho­riza­tion would replace the por­tion of the school district’s prior autho­riza­tion which has expired. The pro­posed ref­er­en­dum rev­enue autho­riza­tion would be an increase of $33 per pupil over the school district’s expired autho­riza­tion. The pro­posed new ref­er­en­dum rev­enue autho­riza­tion would increase each year by the rate of infla­tion and be applic­a­ble for eight years unless oth­er­wise revoked or reduced as pro­vided by law. Shall the increase in the rev­enue pro­posed by the board of Anoka-Hennepin Inde­pen­dent School Dis­trict No. 11 be approved?
YES
Ques­tion 1 — People’s Veto (Maine)
Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex cou­ples marry and allows indi­vid­u­als and reli­gious groups to refuse to per­form these mar­riages?
NO