Both Minneapolis and St. Paul hold city elections on November 5. In Minneapolis, a candidate can get on the ballot with no petition and a filing fee of $20. There are 35 candidates for Mayor on the ballot. This is probably the most crowded mayoral election ballot in U.S. history.
In St. Paul, where the filing fee is $500, there are only four candidates on the ballot. Thanks to Debra Ramage for this news.
And in Keene, NH where the filing fee is $5, there are TWO candidates: the incumbent Kendall Lane and the lone challenger Darryl W. Perry.
Aside from one Ward race (Ward 3 Selectman), and At-Large City Council, the only opposition is from a group of liberty candidates.
There’s that word again: Crowded. As in “three’s a crowd” How many candidates can be on a ballot without catching criticism?
Seriously, we’re well into an age where thousands could be accommodated on a ballot. Total ballot access. Why resist? why would we really want to?
Let’s leave the term “crowded field” in the 20th century.
After all, even if there we’re only say five candidates on ballot for a given position, many might not think it worth it to check out even that few/many and only make selections from what their familiar with. Still others would lament the lack of breadth with that same field and others still would think of some of the candidacies as joke candidacies.
Total ballot access. Almost a panacea.
Other comparisons:
Population:
Keene – 23,409 (2010 census)
Minneapolis – 392,880 (2012 est.)
City Council:
Keene – 15 members
Minneapolis – 13 members (11 ward races contested 2013)
Yeah I’m not a fan of saying it’s “crowded”.
Obviously in SANE regimes any filing fee should be a bit high – i.e. more expensive than doing a nominating petition.
BUT – lots of INSANE stuff in the USA.
Mpls has 81 neighborhoods, so I suggested the someone from each should run. That way every voter coukd vote for some who lives near then.