Minnesota DFL Party Moves Conventions to Online Ballot
This week, an emergency meeting of the Minnesota DFL Party Executive Committee made the decision to move local convention activities away from in-person meetings and tele-conventions, and instead conduct party business via an online balloting system. (Phone or hard copy balloting will also be available for those delegates who don’t have email access). This decision was made to ensure all DFL Party events comply with advice from public health officials to cease small group gatherings.
No decision has yet been made regarding the Minnesota DFL state convention currently scheduled for May 30-31, 2020 in Rochester, MN.
Yesterday, the Senate District 60 (“SD60”) officers received an explanation about the balloting process from the State DFL. Over the next few weeks, SD60 officers, Pre-Convention Planning Committee Team members, or Precinct Chairs will be contacting delegates online and by phone to make sure we have your correct contact information so we can be sure to provide you with an online, phone, or hardcopy mail-in ballot.
In addition, SD60 will need to know if you want to be a delegate to the Congressional District 5 (“CD5”) Convention and the MN DFL State Convention, and if so, will need you to provide your gender information (to assure gender balance) and presidential preference. We will then work with the State DFL to put that data together to create an accurate ballot for all delegates. The ballot will contain (1) SD60 Legislative Candidate Endorsements, (2) Elections of Delegates to CD5 and State Conventions, and (3) Resolutions to forward to the State DFL for possible presentation at the State Convention.
Here is the timeline that we received from the State DFL for this process:
Friday, April 17 at 5 PM CST: Local units provide a roster of delegates/alternates and ballot contents
Saturday April 18th- April 23rd: DFL Staff will provide local units with a draft ballot to certify
Thursday, April 23: Deadline for local units to certify ballot in writing with DFL Staff
Saturday, April 25th – Monday, May 4th: Balloting/Voting will occur over this period
Monday, May 11th: Results need to be certified by local unit
Please respond quickly to emails or phone calls you receive from SD60 officers or volunteers so we may make sure that this democratic process works for all.
Sincerely,
MN DFL Senate District 60 Executive Committee
Marcus Mills, Chair
Maleah Otterson, Secretary
Sonja Peterson, Treasurer
Will Tully, Acting Outreach & Inclusion Officer