Elections for state and federal offices take place every even numbered year. The election season is a critical time for elected officials and candidates to travel throughout their districts to listen to the concerns and priorities of their constituents.

This is one of the few occasions when citizens
are able to solicit solid commitments from candidates
and incumbents if they are elected into office.

If public education is going to be an important issue on state agendas, there must be a strong base of people willing to learn about candidates, share information, and, most importantly:

VOTE on Election Day
The Governor and all 201 Minnesota legislators are up for election in November 2010.

Minnesota's 2010 Race for Governor: Who's on first? - A preliminary list of 2010 gubernatorial candidates, Politics in Minnesota.

Candidates for Constitutional Office
Registered with the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board

2010 Candidate Filings
Find candidate filings for upcoming elections
Minnesota Secretary of State

There are four important dates in an election year:

• Precinct Caucuses—February 2, 2010
  Community members come together at precinct caucuses to build an agenda of the issues and to support candidates to run for elected office.
  
  
• Primary Elections—Previously September, now August 10
  Primary elections narrow the field of candidates to one per political party for the November general election.
  
  
• Voter Registration Deadline—October
  You need to register to vote if you’ve never voted before, if you’ve moved since the last election, or if you haven’t voted in 4 years.  The deadline for pre-registration is twenty days before Election Day.  NOTE:  Minnesota allows citizens to register at the polls.  The Secretary of State provides Voter Registration information in multiple languages.
  
  
• General Elections—November
  The general election is when voters choose who will represent them at the federal, state and local levels.  It’s held every two years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. 

Resources from the League of Women Voters:

Voter Guide - Enter your address to find your list of candidates, ballot questions and more!  And check out Road to Election Day, the League's guide to participating in the Minnesota political process.

Additional Resources

Nonprofits, Voting, and Elections (Updated March 2008) - A guide for 501(c)3 organizations on how to conduct election-related activities, NonprofitVote.org.

More information on the rules guiding the election and advocacy activities of 501(c)3 organizations, Parents United.

  Vote (2010) - Download and print to take to your next parent group meeting, Parents United  (MS Word).

House Election Statistics -Minnesota House of Representatives.

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July 13, 2010 - After years of bad GOP policy, a plan to fix Minnesota schools - When I was a skinny kid in Worthington, Minn., from a family without much money and searching for a future, education gave me a chance. It gave me a chance to go to college, build a career prosecuting white-collar criminals, and begin a lifetime in public service. But for our kids, those kinds of chances have started drifting out of reach. It’s long past time we were honest about why, Matt Entenza, Duluth News Tribune.

June 27, 2010 - State Auditor Times - Rebecca Otto is a candidate for state auditor, one of the five constitutional office up for election in November.  This issue has two articles related to education:

The story of Rebecca Otto - From small business success to teacher to elected local and statewide office, Otto says “next generation” is what drives her...
 
and
 
Are schools just inefficient? - Most schools run efficiently - often more efficiently than businesses. But most of their expenses are teachers in the classroom, so health care is a major cost driver. At the same time expenses have risen, state aid has been frozen or declined, forcing schools to choose between increasing class size and cutting opportunities for kids, or levying more property taxes. Kids in lower property wealth communities wind up with less opportunities, and levy referendums eat up resources and often divide communities.

June 25, 2010 - Can't wait for August? You can now vote absentee - Absentee ballot voting started Friday and campaigns are working to keep it going, Star Tribune.

June 23, 2010 - Some advocacy groups eyeing legislative races - Taxpayers League, Coalition of Minnesota Businesses among their ranks... The Coalition will continue to target voters on education issues. The group’s method of communicating will include newspaper ads, lawn signs, and, in some areas, television, St. Paul Legal Ledger Capitol Report.

July 1, 2009 - 2008 surge in Black voters nearly erased racial gap - In last year’s presidential election, younger blacks voted in greater proportions than whites for the first time and black women turned out at a higher rate than any other racial, ethnic and gender group, a census analysis released Monday confirmed, New York Times.

April 30, 2009 - Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History - The electorate in last year's presidential election was the most racially and ethnically diverse in U.S. history, with nearly one-in-four votes cast by non-whites, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Research Center. The nation's three biggest minority groups -- blacks, Hispanics and Asians -- each accounted for unprecedented shares of the presidential vote in 2008, Pew Research Center (Press Release).

Your vote counts!
78.5 percent of Minnesotan's voted in the 2008 election
Minnesota Index 2010