Today’s City Council Choices Brought to You By #MakeMinot

As you (hopefully) head to the polls today, one of the races you’ll be asked to decide – if you live in Minot – is who to choose for Minot’s City Council.

When you get to that portion of the ballot, you’ll encounter seven names. You’ll only get to choose three of them. Hopefully you did your research and you know which people and values you’re supporting.

And when you make your choices, you may not know it, but  you’ll have #MakeMinot to thank for it. Though not that long ago, #MakeMinot is far enough back that many people have either forgotten or never knew about it.

But in the old days of 2016, Minot used to be governed by a Ward system. The City was divided seven ways and you were only allowed to vote for the candidate(s) from your Ward. The system was resulting in fewer and fewer contested elections and an electorate that felt less and less empowered to do anything about it.

#MakeMinot changed that. It was a citizen-led reform initiative with the goal of restoring choices to voters on election day. Nothing more and nothing less. And it worked! Every election since the reform was implemented has given voters the power to select who leads our City.

So, whether you use your vote or not, or whether the people you vote for win or not, one thing we can be sure of is that the democratic process is alive and well at the City Council level.

Thank you to the candidates for all elected offices who put themselves forward for consideration. And for all those of you involved in #MakeMinot in one way or another, we tip our hat to you, too!