MAP: Golden Valley Helps Minnesota to 3rd Place Voter Turnout Rates

The community had 88.3 percent of registered voters cast a ballot in the 2012 election.

Golden Valley had a high voter turnout in the 2012 election for a state that is itself already well above the national average. Minnesota fell to third in the country—behind only Mississippi and Wisconsin, according to data the U.S. Census Bureau made public Wednesday evening. Although it had the highest levels in the country of voter turnout in the 2008 election, the 73.2 percent of citizens who voted here in 2012 is still comfortably above the national average of 61.8. (The Census Bureau’s rates are different from those from the Minnesota Secretary of State’s Office, which lists a 76.11 percent voter turnout rate. The Census Bureau’s rate for Minnesota is listed as having a margin of error of ± 2.1 percent.) The Census Bureau didn’t …

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Linda Higgins Being Sworn In On Hennepin County Commission

Today the 2nd District Commissioner-elect will be sworn-in on the Hennepin County Board.

Second District Commissioner-elect Linda Higgins will be sworn in at 9 a.m. today, Tuesday, Nov. 20, in the 24th Floor Board Room of the Hennepin County Government Center, 300 S. Sixth St. in downtown Minneapolis.  Commissioners who were reelected will be sworn in on Jan. 8, but Higgins is being sworn in immediately to fill the vacancy created in June when former Commissioner Mark Stenglein left to become president and CEO of the Minneapolis Downtown Council. Higgins will be sworn in by Hennepin County 4th Judicial District Court Judge Tanya M. Bransford. The ceremony will be broadcast live on Metro Cable Network/Channel 6 and streamed live on the Hennepin County website.

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Hennepin County, Golden Valley See High Voter Turnout

Many precincts in Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Edina, Golden Valley, Greenwood, Minnetonka, Minnetrista, Plymouth and St. Louis Park had turnouts of more than 90 percent.

Golden Valley City Council Will Appoint New Member

When Mike Freiberg was elected to serve as State Representative after the general election, the City Council had some thinking to do. At a meeting this week, the group agreed to appoint a new member. They are seeking applicants.

Information provided by the City of Golden Valley. A vacant seat on the Golden Valley City Council left by Councilmember Mike Freiberg’s election as State Representative for District 45B will be filled by an appointment made by the four remaining council members. Freiberg will continue to serve on the Golden Valley City Council until he takes the oath of office for his new position on the first day of the House session on Jan. 8. Although Freiberg’s term ends Dec. 31, 2015, the newly appointed council member will only serve until December 31, 2013. According to Minn. Stat. 412.02, while the City Council must appoint a replacement until an election is held, a special election must be held to replace or affirm the appointed person if more …

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Hennepin County Reports High Voter Turnout at 84 Percent

Many precincts in Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Edina, Golden Valley, Greenwood, Minnetonka, Minnetrista, Plymouth and St. Louis Park had turnouts of more than 90 percent.

The following was released by Hennepin County: The Hennepin County Canvassing Board certified the county’s election results on Tuesday – and those results showed high voter turnout – 84 percent. More than 610,000 voted on Election Day, and more than 72,000 voted prior to Election Day.    “Minnesota typically leads the country with the highest voter turnout – in 12 of the past 16 elections,” said Rachel Smith, Hennepin County elections manager. “We especially want to thank the more than 5,000 election judges throughout the county who worked to make this election so successful. These election judges are essentially volunteers – they work long hours and put in an incredible amount of effort to make this voting process happen. Together with …

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Seventy Percent Of Golden Valley Residents Said 'No' To Marriage Amendment

Voters in the mostly suburban cities Patch covers were more opposed to the proposed gay-marriage ban than Minnesota voters generally.

A little more than 14,000 Golden Valley residents (70.52 percent) voted against the marriage amendment on Nov. 6. That's compared to 4,145 (29.48 percent) who voted for it. The amendment would have added a definition of marriage as only between one man and one woman to the state Constitution. Here's how residents in a selection of Minnesota cities voted on the ballot measure. Statewide, the ballot measure failed to exceed the 50 percent level of support it needed in the Nov. 6, 2012 general election. It got 47.53 percent, according to unofficial results from all but two of Minnesota's 4,102 precincts' results. Taken together, people in cities served by Patch—mostly in the Twin Cities suburbs—rejected the marriage amendment in greater …

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Golden Valley Voters Favored Keith Ellison in All Precincts

Republican Chris Fields did better in areas Patch covers than in the Fifth District overall.

Patch cities gave U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) one shy of 76,000 votes in the Nov. 6, 2012 election that returned him to Congress for a fourth term. His Republican challenger, Chris Fields, got fewer than half that number of votes from areas Patch covers: 33,623. In Golden Valley, Ellison received 65 percent of the votes. Fields received 34 percent. Ellison was most favored in Golden Valley Precinct 3-C where he garnered 70 percent of the vote. Only two precincts out of 76 in Patch cities favored Fields over Ellison. Both precincts were in Edina—a new part of the Fifth District, added when redistricting redrew political boundaries based on the 2010 U.S. Census. Edina gave Fields the most support of the six Patch cities in the Fifth …

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Controversial Quilt, Bad Bus Driver Decision and Frankenstein: Pick of Our Patches

This week's selection includes a new gallery/gift shop, a levy rejected, school boundaries issue, DFL wins and good news for Southwest Light Rail Transit.

Editor’s Note: Every week we will bring you a sampling of stories from Patch sites in the west metro: Eden Prairie, Edina, Fridley, Golden Valley, Hopkins, Lake Minnetonka, Maple Grove, Plymouth, Richfield, Southwest Minneapolis, St. Louis Park, and St. Michael. District 281 Bus Driver Asks Student to Pick Up Gun A Robbinsdale Area Schools spokesperson said a bus driver asked a seventh-grade boy to pick up a gun he spotted along the road. The district is shocked by the incident and has communicated with parents and students. Bus Driver Fired After Asking ISD 281 Student to Pick Up Gun The incident occurred on Nov. 8 around 8 a.m. The district immediately took action after the driver notified school employees about the weapon. A Hillary-…

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