History

Conversations started over coffee in December 1996 among a group of politically diverse individuals who had a common disaffection for politics as usual. This group used the collaborative and democratic process of the study circle to examine alternative voting methods and concluded that this was a structural change that could make a fundamental difference in the quality of democracy. FairVote Minnesota was born as a grassroots network of about 20 active volunteers.

Major activities and accomplishments include: 

• Successfully advocated for the timely implementation of Ranked Choice Voting in Minneapolis in 2009.

• Intervened in the lawsuit against Ranked Choice Voting in the City of Minneapolis, which was decided by the Minnesota Supreme Court in June, 2009. The Court issued a unanimous ruling upholding the constitutionality of Ranked Choice Voting.

• Lead organization of the Saint Paul Better Ballot Campaign,

• Lead partner of the successfull Minneapolis Better Ballot Campaign, providing consultation, research and education and support to the campaign. The campaign for Instant Runoff Voting in Minneapolis won by a 2 to 1 margin on November 7, 2006.

• Spurred charter amendment campaigns in Hopkins and Minneapolis.

• Organized the grassroots response to the Help America Vote Act. The majority of public comments on the Minnesot HAVA plan called on the state to make sure new voting equipment is upgraded to process the ballot types used in advanced voting methods.

• Led the effort at the state legislature to allow Roseville to use an alternative voting method known as “instant runoff voting” in a one-time pilot project for a special election. The legislation passed the Senate and received a floor vote in the House, advancing farther than previous political reform efforts that had much greater funding.

• Researched and wrote “Municipal Voting System Reform," published in Bench & Bar of Minnesota (October 2002). It established the legal basis for adoption of alternative voting methods by home rule cities, an important tool for activists working to change their city’s voting methods.

• Addressed thousands across the metro area and parts of Greater Minnesota through our Speakers Bureau, featured presentations on public affairs cable TV and radio programs, and opinion articles in the Star Tribune, Saint Paul Pioneer Press and theDuluth News Tribune.

• Researched, wrote, and published “No-Contest Elections,” a groundbreaking report on the lack of real contests in most state legislative races. It introduced “competitiveness” as a criterion in redistricting. The Ventura administration championed the concept. It appears the court panel that drew the 2002 district lines applied this criterion, as the state legislative district plan is more competitive than the 1990s plan

• Cosponsored “Empowering the Voter,” a Midwest regional conference with national leaders in election reform held in November 1998 on the heels of Jesse Ventura’s third party upset victory, giving the conference significant news coverage.

FairVote Minnesota Team

Jeanne Massey, Executive Director

Jeanne Massey is Executive Director of FairVote Minnesota, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works for better democracy through public education and advocating progressive voting systems that lead to greater competitiveness, better representation and more participation.  She led the successful 2006 Ranked Choice Voting ballot measure effort in Minneapolis and has been leading FairVote MN since 2007.

Jeanne has more than twenty five years of experience in leading nonprofit organizations and in consulting in community planning, social service delivery systems, and organizational development. She served ten years as the director of Bloomington-based South Hennepin Regional Planning Agency. She holds a master’s degree in Regional and Community Planning from Iowa State University and a bachelor’s degree in Business and Spanish from the University of Northern Iowa.  Following undergraduate studies, she served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica.  She is active in her community and has served on several community and nonprofit boards, including the Kingfield Neighborhood Association, the I-35W Access Project Advisory Committee and the Resource Center of the Americas.  

Consulting Team

Web design and management: Super Mega Design

Newsletter and Communications: Susan Maas

Accounting: Bookkeepers Plus, www.bookkeepersplus.us

Interns

Carrie Blakslee, a 2008 graduate of Political Science and Art History at the University of Minnesota. Carrie was an MPIRG volunteer and worked on the Ranked Choice Voting campaign in Minneapolis in 2006. She recently returned from Montana, where she worked for the Glacier National Park. Carrie says she's glad to be back in Minnesota and active in electoral reform.

Lauren Bergal, a Duluth native and first-year student of Political Science and Mass Communications at the University of Minnesota. She cut her political teeth as a volunteer for Emily Larson's successfull 2011 campaign for Duluth city council and as an intern will help lead FairVote Minnesota's efforts to engage young voters in the movement for Ranked Choice Voting.  Outside of class and politics, Lauren is an amateur photographer and a section leader in the  University Marching Band.

Previous Interns

Graydon Francis

Betsy Rajala

Connor Mcnutt

Lubna Khatoon

Pema Khando

Xinyi Wei (Whitney)

Melanie Sedqui

Luke Belant

Board of Directors

Chair

Carl "Buzz" Cummins, President and CEO, Workers Compensation Reinsurance Association. He has practiced law, served as legal counsel to Governor Al Quie and was responsible for government, regulatory and community affairs at Minnegasco. Buzz has been a leader in public service and civic engagement in Minnesota, and has served as Chair of the Citizens League, United Hospital, the Higher Education Coordinating Board, and numerous other non-profit and community boards. He currently serves on the board of the Coalition for Impartial Justice, which supports adoption of a system of judicial retention elections in Minnesota.

Vice Chair 

Cyndi Lesher, retired CEO of Northern States Power, an Xcel Energy Company. Cyndi, who served as President of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Host Committee for the 2008 Republican National Convention and as chair of former Governor Tim Pawlenty’s Workforce Development Council, was recognized as the 2008 Woman of the Year by the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce. She has been lauded by CityBusiness as one of the Twin Cities’ most innovative women. She has also been awarded the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal’s Lifetime Career Achievement Award. Cyndi serves on the Boards of Children’s Hospital, Drake University, the American Red Cross, the Animal Humane Society and JetE, LLC, a St. Paul company that facilitates the cost-effective distributed production of on-spec green jet and green diesel fuels.

Treasurer

Roann Cramer, Project manager and business analyst at Ameriprise; Chair, Senate District DFL 60; volunteer for the 2006 Minneapolis Better Ballot Campaign and 2009 voter education campaign; worked on several candidate and issue campaigns.

Secretary

Ken Bearman, Editor/Writer for Minnesota Department of Human Services. Ken Bearman is politically independent.

Directors

Stacy Bee, President of ESBEE Public Relations and Marketing. Stacy is the founder of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce’s Emerging Leaders Program and has served as project manager of the St. Paul Capital City Partnership. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and has held various positions with the St. Paul Winter Carnival. 

Ellen Brown, retired owner and President of Brown Partners, Ellen currently consults in the areas of strategic analysis and public policy. Former Executive Director, Greening the Great River Park; Former Vice President, Control Data Corporation; and Assistant Commissioner for government and Community Relations, MN Department of Transportation. Active volunteer, currently serving as Director Emeritus of the Great River Greening; Reader for the MN State Services for the Blind and board member of Northland College. Past board member of Citizens League, Hmong-American Partnership, MN Museum of Art, CommonBond and Responsible Credit Partnership.

Robin Garwood, City Council Aide; Former Steering Committee Member, Minneapolis/5th District Green Party.

Roger Heegaard, CEO of medical device firm Enova Medical Technologies and former president/CEO of MedTreo Inc and HomeStyles, a home design and architectural publishing company (1988 – 2002); former attorney, ESL teacher in Latin America and high school English in Minnestoa; current board member of the United Theological Seminary and former board member of the Pangea World Theater and Lowry Hill Neighborhood Ass.

John Hottinger, former Minnesota state senator and majority leader; executive committee chair, Sierra Club - Northstar Chapter; board member, Northwest Midwest Institute; consultant in deliberative democracy processes, early childhood education and environmental issues.

Carol Veldman Rudie, Self-Employed Writer/Lecturer; Vice President, CRC Publications; Board of Trustees Member, Dordt College (Sioux Falls, South Dakota); Past Board Member, Center for Public Justice; Past Board Chair, Citizens for Educational Freedom; Past Board Chair, Pathways International. Carol Rudie is politically independent.

Tim Penny, former United States Congressman and Minnesota Senator; 2002 gubernatorial candidate; current President of the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation; Senior Fellow at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute and professor at Winona State University; serves on the board of several public policy related organizations, including the Concord Coalition, the ACDI/VOCA (an international development agency) and the University of Minnesota's Institute of Law and Politics and Energy Literacy Advocates; co-author of three books, Common Cents, Payment Due and The 15 Biggest Lies in Politics, and regular public speaker, radio commentator and editorial writer. He lives in Waseca, Minnesota.

Wy Spano, former government and nonprofit lobbyist, cofounder and longtime editor of Politics in Minnesota, and regular guest on Minnesota's public affairs program Almanac on public television.  He currently directs the Master of Advocacy and Political Leadership Program at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and provides frequent commentary and analysis in local, regional and national media. He lives in St. Paul.

Bao Vang, President and CEO of the Hmong American Partnership and former board member of the Professional Hmong Women Association.  Bao is a frequent speaker on issues relating to the Asian American Community. She lives in St. Paul.

Bob Wahman, retired physician and medical director of St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth, past board chair of the Duluth-Superior Symphony, a former board member of the Minnesota Medical Foundation and a current member of the Depot Foundation.

Advisory Council

• Harriet Barlow, Executive Director, the Blue
  Mountain Center; Advisor, Harold K. Hochschild Foundation
• Tyrone Bujold, retired attorney
• John Cairns, former Executive Director, Minnesota Business Parnership; former Minneapolis City Council member
• Dave Durenberger, former US Senator; Chair, National Institute of Health Policy; Advisory Board, National Popular Vote Plan
• Jim Gibson, Owner, Trail Blazer Campaign Services 
• Mike Goldner, former owner of an investment firm and president of the Minneapolis Civil Liberties Union
• Karla Ekdahl, community leader.
• Kent Eklund, President, Fairview Foundation
• Keith Halleland, Attorney and Founder of Halleland Habicht law firm
• Mary Hartnett, Executive Director, Minnesota Commission Serving Deaf and Hard of Hearing People
• Steve Kelley, former Minnesota Senator; Director of the Center for Science, Technology, and Public Policy- Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
• Dag Knudsen,  management consultant and speaker
• Curt Johnson, President, Citistates Group; former Chair, Metropolitan Council; former Executive Director, Citizens League
• Doug Johnson, Executive Director, Center for Victims of Torture
• Dan Larson, former state senator, attorney at Lockridge, Grindal and Nauen
• Tammy Lee Stanoch, former VP, Northwest Airlines
• Mike Logan, Director of Civic Affairs, Target
• Brian Melendez, Chair, DFL Party; Attorney, Faegre & Benson
• Ken Pentel, former Green Party candidate for Minnesota Governor
• Jon Pratt, Executive Director, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits
• Tony Solgard, former President, FairVote Minnesota
• Aaron Street, Publisher, Lawerist Media; Chair, Board of Advisors, Minnesota Institute of Law and Politics
• David Schultz, Attorney, Professor, Hamline University
• Jane Tschida, Community leader, former President, Minnesota Governmental Relations Council; Board Member, CommonBond Communities
• Paul Tschida, Community leader; former Commissioner of Public Safety, University of Minnesota
• Jack Uldrich, Chair, MN Independence Party; Global futurist and author; Owner, Nano Veritas; former Deputy Director of the MN Office of Strategic and Long Range Planning, Governor Ventura's administration
• David Weinlick, DFL Party Affairs Director, Minnesota DFL Party

FairVote Minnesota Foundation

FairVote Minnesota is comprised of two separate corporate entities, FairVote Minnesota and FairVote Minnesota Foundation.  Both are part of the same overall organization, but it is necessary that we have two separate organizations in order for FairVoteMinnesota to do a broad range of work in advancing election reform. This Web site collectively refers to the two organizations under the name FairVote Minnesota.

Certain FairVote Minnesota activities must be done by one organization and not the other. FairVote Minnesota – our 501(c)4 organization – engages in legislative lobbying and ballot measure campaigns to influence and change local and state policy. Contributions in support of these activities are not tax deductible.  

In contrast, our strong and growing educational and outreach program to inform and engage citizens in the work of democracy reform are provided by FairVote Minnesota Foundation – our 501(c)3 organization. Contributions in support of these activities tax deductible.

You may make a contribution to either FairVote Minnesota or FairVote Minnesota Foundation, or both. A contribution to either organization will be used to support, promote and advance ranked choice voting and other election reforms. However, each organization will only use the funds contributed directly to it to carry out the specific activities it conducts as part of the overall FairVote Minnesota mission.

To contribute, click here.