Who is eligible to vote should be a public record and the voting process transparent. Remember the Voter ID amendment in our 2012 election? Now Minnesota’s Department of Transportation (MnDOT) asks only a few people to vote on whether these expensive noise walls should be put up along old freeways when new lanes are added in MnDOT-selected neighborhoods under their June, 2011 Noise Policy guidelines. The voting process is neither public nor transparent. What’s worse, in at least one affected neighborhood, MnDOT can’t even find the eligible voters nor explain how their weighted-vote process system works.

Special elections to fill the two vacant House seats have been scheduled for Feb. 12. If necessary, a primary for each race would be held Jan. 29.

In this area, the dominant color of the last election was orange. More common and more prominent than signs for any candidate—including the presidential contenders—the bright orange lawn signs advising passers-by to Vote No on the Marriage Amendment became the visual signature of the election.