Early primary voting is underway

Who will and will not appear on the general election ballot this year will be decided in the next few weeks. It will depend on who shows up and how they vote in this year’s Aug.11 primary election. Early voting has already started. 

Voters will elect a governor and U.S. Senator at the Nov. 3 general election, as well as state legislators, county officials and five school board members. 

The primary election day, when precinct polling places will be open, is Aug. 11 but people may vote in-person now through Aug. 10 at the Government Center skyway level at 300 South 6th St, or at the Minneapolis Early Vote Center at 980 E Hennepin Ave.  

Voters can find their ballot and locate their polling place online at the Minnesota Secretary of State Voter Information Portal.

This year’s general election ballot will include U.S. senator, U.S. representative, governor and lieutenant governor, secretary of state, state auditor, attorney general, state senator, state representative, county officials and school board members.

The primary ballot only includes races where more than one candidate from one of the major parties is running for the federal or state races, and more than two are running in the more local and so-called nonpartisan races.  

Partisan, nonpartisan: What’s the difference?

While political parties are often involved in races at many levels and candidates for county, school board may receive party endorsements, because of state law the ballot differentiates between partisan and nonpartisan offices. 

For the officially recognized partisan races for state level offices, voters must vote only within one party list.  

No one is required to vote in the partisan races. Voters may choose to vote in only some races, but they must either vote within only one party list, either the Democratic Farmer Labor Party (DFL) list or the Republican Party list but not both.

These partisan federal and state level races are on one side of the ballot, and the nonpartisan county and school board races are on the other side of the ballot.  

Additional independent and minor party candidates who have already filed for the partisan federal, statewide and state legislative races are not on the primary ballot but will be on the general election ballot. 

For almost all Southwest residents there will be no state senators or representatives on the primary ballot because only one candidate has filed to run with the major parties in the Southwest District 61and 63. In Senate District 62 which covers central-south Minneapolis, including parts of Whittier, Phillips, and Powderhorn, three people, including Jeanelle Austin, Brenda Short and Omar Fateh (who is seeking reelection) have filed with the DFL. 

Southwest voters may still vote to help narrow the field of candidates for federal and statewide offices including U.S. senator and representative, and governor. In these partisan races, the primary will reduce the major party candidates on the general election ballot to one from each of the two major parties. 

The nonpartisan primary election will reduce most of those races to only two choices for voters in the general election. 

The exception is the at-large Minneapolis School Board race where two at-large seats are up for election and the four candidates getting the most votes in the primary will appear on the November ballot. 

Hennepin County races

At the county level, this year voters will elect a county sheriff, county commissioners, and a county attorney. 

Because only two people filed to run for county sheriff, their primary election was canceled. Incumbent Dawanna Witt and challenger Joseph Banks advanced automatically to the November ballot. 

For Southwest’s District 3 county commissioner seat, Marion Greene has filed for reelection along with challengers Anthony Abousweid, Josh Bassais, Kevin Chavis, Abdihakim Arabow Ibrahim, and Anthony Walsh. 

The most competitive county race appears to be for county attorney. Mary Moriarty is not seeking reelection. Five candidates – Ander Folks, Cedrick Frazier, Diane Krenz, Hao Nguyen and Matt Pelican – are on the primary ballot. The top two vote-getters will appear on the general election ballot.

Throughout the campaign so far and in a League of Woman Voters’ forum (available to view on YouTube), all five candidates talked about their experience, the importance of public safety and why they are running.

Folk, who grew up in Hopkins, is a former Marine. After finishing law school, he worked in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office under Amy Klobuchar and as a United States attorney.   

“I am running,” Folk said at a June 26 forum, “to make Hennepin County safe for everyone and bring my experience over the course of my career to the office.

“Together, we can bring fairness and a commitment to the rule of law back to our justice system, build safer communities for all, and restore trust in the county attorney’s office.”

Folk has been endorsed by City Council Members Elizabeth Shaffer, Linea Palmisano, LaTrisha Vetaw, Pearll Warren, and Michel Rainville, former City Council Member Lisa Goodman, Mayor Jacob Frey, former U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Andy Luger, former 4th Judicial District Judge Martha Holton Dimick, former council member Don Samuels, former State Rep. Ryan Winkler, and former state DFL Chair Mike Erlandson.   

Frazier grew up in Chicago and came to Minnesota for college and earned a law degree. He has worked as a public defender, attorney for the Minneapolis Public School and for Education Minnesota, as well as a New Hope City Council member and a state representative for the past three terms. 

“My message is simple,” Frazier said.“No one is above the law and no-one is beneath its protection either.” 

Frazier is endorsed by the DFL, eight labor groups including the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, and over 40 state and local elected officials, including Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and county commissioners Marion Greene (District 3)  and Angela Conley (District 4) as well as the seven suburban mayors and 11 State legislators including Rep. Emma Greenman (63B), Rep. Jamie Long (61B), and Rep. Katie Jones (61A). 

Krenz, who lives in Minnetonka, previously worked in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office as a prosecutor for close to 40 years. She stepped down before running for office because she could “no longer ignore the changes that have weakened accountability, strained public trust, and put safety at risk.”

At the June 26 forum, Krenz highlighted her experience and a need to “restore trust and accountability in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.” 

She emphasized, “My entire career has been about protecting the public, supporting victims, and holding offenders accountable, and I’m ready to continue that work as your county attorney on day one.”

Kranz’s main campaign themes are  “experienced leadership, common-sense justice, safer communities.” She lists no endorsement on her website. 

Nguyen was born in Vietnam and spent two years in a refugee camp in the Philippines before moving to St. Cloud, where he attended St. Cloud State University. His work experience includes being a corrections officer, a police officer, and a prosecutor for the Ramsey County Attorney’s office where he currently works.   

“I am running because I believe now more than ever, we need experience at the table,” he said. “At the law enforcement level, at the refugee level, at the immigrant level and at the managerial level of a county attorney office.”

He is endorsed by Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, Minnetonka City Council Member Kissy Coakley, mayors from  Eden Pairie, Edina, Maple Grove and Minnetonka as well as St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, and Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt.

Pelican is a Minnesota native, born and raised in Northfield who graduated as a political science major from St. Olaf College. 

After graduation, he worked for Senator Paul Wellstone, and later for Senator Mark Dayton. He earned his law degree at  the University of Minnesota, clerked for justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court, and then built a career as a litigator, working until recently as a partner at the law firm MADEL PA in Minneapolis. He ran unsuccessfully for Minnesota Attorney General in 2018. 

“I’m running because I believe we have to have safety and justice,” Pelican said. “You can’t have one without the other.”  He lists no endorsements on his website. 

“I’m the only candidate in the race,” he said, “who is credibly running from outside the establishment.”

School Board at-large RACE

Voters will elect two at-large and three district level school board members this year, including Northeast’s District 1, the centrally located District 3 that includes some of Whittier, and District 5 which covers the Longfellow-Nokomis  area.

Current MPS board members Joyner Emerick (at-large), Lisa Skjefte (District 3), and Lori Norvell (District 5) are not running for re-election.

Since Shannon Gibney is the only candidate filed for the District 3 seat and only two candidates, Becca Dryden and Molly Chase, filed for the District 5 seat, the only primary will be for the at-large seats where Michale Baskins, incumbent Collin Beachy, Cristin Crabtree, Clifton CJ Hnderson and Stephanie Johnson are running.  

In the at-large primary race, the four top vote getters will go on to the general election where two of them will be elected.

The DFL, the Minneapolis Federation of Educators, SEIU, and AFL-CIO have endorsed Crabtree and Beachy, Abdul Abdi for District 1, Gibney for District 3, and Dryden for District 5. Crabtree, Gibney, and Dryden are also endorsed by Take Action Minnesota’s Minnesota Families for Public Schools that has prioritized enforceable class sizes and more reasonable caseloads.

The Minneapolis League of Woman Voters is hosting an MPS at-large candidate forum  on Thursday, July 16, 6-7:30 p.m. at the Minneapolis Central Library, Pohlad Hall, 300 Nicollet Mall.View the recording online.