Minneapolis crafts fix for ballot language on policing
MINNEAPOLIS – A judge struck down ballot language Tuesday that aimed to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a new agency, which sent the City Council scrambling to approve new language that members hope will stand up.
“The court finds that the current ballot language is vague, ambiguous and incapable of implementation, and is insufficient to identify the amendment clearly,” Hennepin County District Judge Jamie Anderson wrote. “It is unreasonable and misleading.”
Anderson issued the order just hours ahead of a 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline for ballots to go to the printer. The City Council approved the new language 12-1 a few hours later. Mayor Jacob Frey, who had twice vetoed earlier language, said it was now they city’s legal obligation to put the revised version on the ballot.
The rejected language for the proposed amendment to the city charter, approved by the City Council last month, would have asked voters whether to replace the police force with a new but mostly undefined Department of Public Safety that “could include” police officers. It would have removed a mandate that the city have a police department and provide at least minimum staffing levels based on population.