A full 88 percent of school operating levies on Minnesota ballots passed on (November 5). That’s an approval rate surpassed only in 2015, when Minnesota saw 90 percent approval.School bond questions — in the form of property tax increases to pay for repairs or new schools — also fared well. More than 7 in 10 passed, which is the third highest rate since the MSBA began tracking school referendums in 1980. - MPR
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Minnesotans vote for school spending at near-record rates
I don’t know how much of this might have to do with a Trump backlash. Trump himself, after all, wasn’t on ballots, and except for an occasional school board race neither were candidates associated with him. But, certainly, one way of assessing the whole Trump thing is as a perverse glorification of ignorance and stupidity, happily pandered to by corporate media.
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All elections are about test between engagement and apathy. Considering this was an off-year election (my polling place did not have any contests), many people may not even been aware that there was an opportunity to vote ... and then, you have to take the steps to actually vote.
ReplyDeleteThis would be the interesting test ... did places that use mail in voting have a greater participation rate ? Did they support or oppose the ballot measure ?
FYI All non-metropolitan townships and cities with less than 400 registered voters located outside of the Minneapolis/St. Paul seven-county metropolitan area can choose to hold elections by mail.
An interesting point in the MPR story
Rural Minnesota districts also set records this year. A full 84 percent of bond and operating referendums passed outside the metro area — the highest rate in recent history.
A new agricultural land tax credit that reduces the share of property taxes farmers pay for school bond issues may be the reason so many more rural districts passed bonds this year.
An interesting point ... but maybe Trump farmers are just think that the "soon-to-be-announced MAGA mega-trade deal with China" will give them so much extra dollars that they feel guilty not spending some of their local schools ... remember “We're going to win so much. You're going to get tired of winning. you're going to say, 'Please Mr. President It's too much winning! We can't take it'"