Good morning. Election 2023 is one day out; Election 2024 is inside a year.
Thinking about voting in tomorrow’s local elections, but not quite sure of the process? Don’t worry.This FAQ compiled by some of my MPR News colleagues goes over the nuts and bolts and connects you to places to check polling place locations, registration requirements, ballot details and legal rights around time off of work for voting.
Need more of the MPR News coverage and voter guides around school board, city council and mayoral races? Here’s the place to go. Be sure to check back after polls close on Tuesday for coverage of the results.
There’s no telling what the next political year will bring — and if somebody tells you they know how it’s going to go, be skeptical. We’re now less than a year out from a presidential election. The two likeliest nominees — at this moment — have ample flaws. A Joe Biden-Donald Trump rematch would be a brawl and probably come down to just a few states, much like their first contest. New York Times polling out yesterday showed Trump with an edge in several battlegrounds, although there are countless turns ahead and the topline results were framed in a head-to-head fashion. A small but important part of the electorate expressed openness to a third-party candidate. It’s not impossible to imagine scenarios where one or both of the presumed nominees don’t make the general election ballot. So buckle up.
Minnesota presidential hopeful Dean Phillips waved the Times polling data as validation of his primary challenge to Biden. But Phillips is also leaving himself lots of wiggle room — in the White House race and around his U.S. House seat also on next year’s ballot. MPR’s Dana Ferguson writes that Phillips’ moves have already opened the field to other prospective candidates looking to get to Congress. It wasn’t long ago that the largely suburban seat was in Republican hands. Depending on the circumstances and candidates, it might rise on the party’s watch list.
Time flies, I guess. It’s hard to fathom that 25 years have passed since the flamboyant Jesse Ventura elbowed his way into the national political consciousness by winning Minnesota’s race for governor. The Washington Post’s Fred Frommer, a former colleague of mine at AP, has this entertaining walk through history . Some timeless photos are part of the story and some choice quotes from Ventura today about his feelings toward Donald Trump, the businessman he developed a political relationship with over the years. Ventura told Frommer he’d back Biden if it were a repeat of the 2020 ballot, saying he can’t back Trump after what happened on Jan. 6, 2021. “Sometimes you miscalculate who you send to do the job.”
Take time to read this deeply reported and heart-wrenching story about Minnesota’s child protection system. The Star Tribune’s Jessie Van Berkel, Jeffrey Mietrodt and Mary Jo Webster trace a series of cases where children removed from their homes amid maltreatment worries are then returned to disastrous results. The story exposes gaps in the system that the Minnesota Legislature will want to examine when lawmakers return for their 2024 session.
It’s possible we’ll get our first peek this week at submissions for the new Minnesota flag, or at least get a feel for dominant themes. The task force deciding on a new flag is looking over thousands of entries. But the Star Tribune’s Briana Bierschbach reminds us that the official state seal is also up for a redesign. And the origin of that one goes back further and has perhaps more-controversial roots. | 