City Election Developments

Me Me Me from Mitchell; Patel Picks Party

In an unusual move, Jarrett Mitchell, the distant fourth place finisher in last week's primary, is openly campaigning for what we in local parlance call "bullet votes" in the city election.

"VOTE ONLY FOR JARRETT MITCHELL ON NOVEMBER 8TH" reads the footer below a YouTube video claiming that the famous Black Angel tombstone is supportng Mitchell.

While the dead are only allowed to vote in Chicago, Iowa voters in an election where you can vote for more than one candidate are indeed free to vote for just one. But campaigns that encourage the tactic usually do it subtly and below the radar.

Voters who choose the tactic, in order to "be sure" their first choice wins, run the risk of seeing their second choice lose to their last choice. With Mitchell so far behind in the primary, and incumbent Matt Hayek so far ahead, the only real competition is between Mid-American Energy's Michelle Payne and student Raj Patel.

Patel, for his part, recently changed his voter registration from No Party to Democratic. Payne has been a registered Republican since registering in the county in 2005.