Getting to the Bottom of the Ballot

It Started with a Question
In early 2002, a handful of Southwest Minneapolis neighbors, concerned about apparent apathy toward local elections, organized themselves around two important questions:

Why was voter turnout for local elections so poor in a corner of town otherwise known for its well-educated residents and high voter turnouts for national and state elections?

Could the reason be less about apathy and more about lack of relevant information regarding lesser known political offices?

It Grew into Non-partisan Community Action
Committed to finding answers, these neighbors brought their questions to local neighborhood boards. Funds were requested and extended, and from this civic energy grew a multi-neighborhood initiative aptly labeled, "Getting to the Bottom of the Ballot." The Goal: identify and test unconventional ways to break down barriers to civic involvement, and, in the process, help residents connect with local issues and local elections.

Barrier #1: Limited Civic Confidence
We premised our first projects on our own feelings of inadequacy regarding local elections. Based on discussions among ourselves and with many others, we concluded that:

As residents, we do care about local issues and government.
We want to honor our civic responsibility to vote intelligently, and often won't vote if we can't vote with confidence.
We are not familiar enough with the local political landscape to form coherent opinions and vote with confidence for local offices-and, we feel some embarrassment about this.
Program efforts need to give busy, distracted residents a civic lifeline-simple ways to sort out local issues and elections, vote accordingly, and lessen their sense of political guilt.

The 2002 Elections
Our first projects turned usual election education upside down. Instead of offering residents typical information about candidates and issues, we focused on ways to arm citizens with better information, and addressed candidly the fact that most of us don't know as much as we'd like about local politics. Pre-election projects:

A Southwest Minneapolis election guide that taught nothing about the candidates running for office and everything about the offices, themselves. Our message: "Don't select the job candidate until you've read the job description." Readers walked away knowing the size of the budget County Commissioners oversee, the duties of Park Board members, the relevance of decision-making at the City Council, and the annual salaries of paid local officials.
Pre-Primary and Pre-Election Candidate Fairs designed to bring candidates down off the podium, out of debate mode, and accessible to regular citizens. Residents got one-on-one time with candidates, i.e. opportunities to ask the most basic questions without sounding politically ignorant in front of a lot of people.
Coordination with middle school to work candidate fairs into civics curriculum.
High school presentation on politics featured Minneapolis mayor's assistant speaking interactively with high school seniors.
Editorials in local newspapers and newsletters articulating just how common it is to know little about local issues and how important it is to take corrective action.

"Get BoB" Comes to Life
Following the 2002 elections and the apparent success of our projects, we launched the 2003 After the Election Seminar series to offer interested residents the chance to learn more about local issues from their very own elected officials, local administrators and activists. Seminar topics ranged from Minneapolis budget struggles, to affordable housing, to North side city violence and its relevance to life on our side of town. We continued in 2004 with a seminar series preparing people for the coming election cycle:
February: "So It's Your First Caucus" a non-partisan discussion on getting involved in party politics
March: "Putting a Price on Politics" a non-partisan discussion on how money influences politics
April: "Investigation: Media in Politics" a non-partisan discussion on how media influences politics

Simultaneously, we focused on how to grow and share this citizen empowerment model. The lively acronym, Get BoB (Getting to the Bottom Of the Ballot), was adopted so that BoB, a caricature embodying each person's quest to become more politically savvy, could travel beyond Southwest Minneapolis to other neighborhoods. We now work as a city-wide organization, and strive to include programs relevant for all parts of Minneapolis.

A Dynamic Vision
Of course, this project menu is dynamic. As other volunteers join us, their own creative efforts to break down barriers to local civic involvement will infinitely expand the GetBoB project.

produced and paid for by someone who wants you to think for yourself