Minnesota Supreme Court to weigh in on Minneapolis ballot issue

Wednesday, a coalition of Minneapolis residents spoke about their push to change policing in the city.

The Yes 4 Minneapolis campaign spearheaded a public safety amendment question which is set to appear on ballots starting this Friday.

However, a judge recently ruled against the question again, saying it’s "unreasonable and misleading."

Yes 4 Minneapolis is asking the Minnesota Supreme Court to intervene. Wednesday morning, the group called the judge’s motion a heinous act that happened in the city in which George Floyd died.

"It’s tragic that the status quo is so afraid of change they chose to abolish accountability and destroy democracy altogether," Corenia Smith, with Yes 4 Minneapolis, said.

The city attorney’s office has also appealed the decision as of late Wednesday morning.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey hopes the question gets to voters.

"I think we need to decide this once and for all. We’ve been debating this over the last three years, so again, I’m opposed to the ballot initiative, but I think it should be on the ballot," the mayor said.

However, Judge Jamie L. Anderson laid out a Friday deadline for any legal challenges to be resolved.

This latest update comes after a small group of Minneapolis residents challenged the ballot question. They claim the city council approved incomplete and misleading language.

The question that was rejected asked residents if they’d like to replace the police department with a department of public safety and included an explainer that was added last week. In that explanatory note, the council added wording that it would have a commissioner approved by council. Instead of having a police chief, the department could include police officers, with no minimum funding requirement.

Wednesday, Yes 4 Minneapolis expressed anger over the judge’s ruling.

Although the group doesn’t know what to expect from the Minnesota Supreme Court, members are asking voters to come together on Friday at the Hennepin County Government Center to let their voices be heard.

"Our clients have been accused of trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes by suppressing vote, nothing could be further from the truth, they want a ballot question on the ballot they want one fair that is not misleading," said Joe Anthony, attorney for the small residents group who have challenged the ballot language.