Tara’s Takes
The weather is changing. Fall is here. Friday nights are filled with high school football. Sunday afternoons are filled with the Vikings making everyone’s blood pressure rise. Yards are starting to fill with decorations of pumpkins, mums, and at this time of an election year, political signs.
Everywhere you look, signs of the next election are popping up. If you watch network TV, you are bombarded with he said/she said political ads. Absentee voting has begun. Early voting is just around the corner, and Nov. 3 will be here in a blink of an eye.
Yes, I am in the majority that is sick of political advertisements by Nov. 3. But I also am out selling political advertisements trying to help candidates reach their market. I see both sides of the coin, and after working in media for many years, I only have two rules when it comes to elections.
1. VOTE! It is important to vote. People have given their life for our right to vote. Democracy is how we move our world forward, and we need people to participate whether it’s a presidential year or not.
2. Be an informed voter. Please don’t vote solely on the name you see on yard signs or who you remember having an ad on at halftime of a Vikings game. Take your time and do your research, especially locally. These are the people who are making decisions that directly affect you on a day-to-day basis.
To begin, find out who is running in your city, for your school board, for your county. Learn their names and then learn why they are running.
Research. Talk to your local candidates.
In Tracy, the Headlight Herald will be sponsoring a candidates forum on Wednesday, Oct. 21. This forum will feature the mayoral candidates from 6-6:45 p.m. and the city council candidates from 7-8 p.m. The reason we are sponsoring this event is to give voters another opportunity to learn about the candidates.
Candidates will be given questions by our moderator. These questions can come from voters. Actually, we encourage you to submit your questions. If you have a reasonable question you’d like asked at the forum, email it to per@headlightherald. com by Oct. 7.
We will be holding the candidates forum in the city council chambers. This allows us to use their Facebook live so that more voters can watch. There will also be seating at the event, just limited to the space we have.
We did a candidates forum like this during COVID when we couldn’t hold town hall meetings, meet and greets and such. This time, we are thrilled that there are multiple people who want to serve our community and run for office. Therefore, we want to make sure we are getting the information about the local candidates to the voters.
We will also be publishing our Election Guide on Oct. 22 with our question-andanswer section for all of the local elections. This is another spot voters can learn more about their candidates.
While these focus more on a local level, every office that is up for election in your area should be looked at, so when you go into your polling place you are an informed voter.
In addition to the local and state wide races, ballots in Minnesota will also have a Constitutional amendment question.
The amendment asks, “Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to increase the funding going to all school districts from the permanent school fund?”
What does that mean to you and me? The permanent school fund was set up in 1858 when the federal government gave the state land to fund edition. That fund is now worth $2.4 billion.
Right now, Minnesota schools get a total of $58 million from the fund. The Constitutional amendment would raise the contribution to schools by $33 per pupil for each school. This would take the fund’s current contribution from $68 per pupil to $101.
Since the funds are coming from the permanent school fund, this would not have an effect on local taxes.
However, if you leave the question blank on your ballot, it is counted as a “no” vote. This is why it is vitally important that you understand what will be on the ballot this fall.
So while you are changing out your seasonal decor or yelling at the TV on Sundays, take time to inform yourself on all the candidates and issues you will be voting on very shortly. And more important — VOTE!
