MPLS DFL official quits in frustration over voter fraud

Minneapolis DFL party Vice Chairman Mike Norton resigned from his post yesterday, just six weeks before the election for city council members. The MN Reformer reports,

The vice chair of the Minneapolis Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party resigned from his post Wednesday, attacking the DFL endorsement process and what he called voting irregularities around that process on his way out the door.

This November, Minneapolis voters will elect all thirteen members of the council. Of the thirteen seats, twelve are held by Democrats, with the last seat (Ward 2) held by a Democratic Socialist.

Norton attached his one-page resignation letter to a Twitter (X) post, which can be read here. The key paragraph,

We’ve previously discussed the DFL endorsement processes for Ward 6 and Ward 10. The convention for Ward 5 was cancelled. (Our complete breakdown of all thirteen city council races can be found here.)

The city’s use of ranked-choice voting (RCV) has eliminated the party primary in Minneapolis. The endorsing conventions don’t actually winnow the field. As a result, there are 38 candidates vying for the 13 seats.

Despite (or because of) the dominance of the city’s DFL party, there are significant intra-party divisions. You will recall this earlier Twitter (X) post of Norton’s, decrying “the conservative majority on the Council.”

As his resignation letter hints at (paragraph 3), part of Norton’s motivation for leaving his party post may be a desire to support a Democrat candidate for Norton’s home Ward 13 who is running against the endorsed Democratic-party incumbent member.

(I break down the city council’s ideological spectrum in this post. The Ward 13 incumbent leans more moderate than average.)

Usually off-year, odd-year elections hold little drama. This year’s could be an exception.

Early voting begins tomorrow!