2024 election day around the corner

The 2024 elections are just around the corner, so it's important that you lend your voice for Minnesota's economy this election season. If I do the math correctly from today (Friday, Oct. 18), it's 18 days until the General Election on November 5. With that, it's important that you, business leaders, people that care about the private sector economy, make sure that you get out and vote on or before November 5.  

As I've experienced over my years and working with the business community and the Chamber community, we know that businesspeople are busy people, so check your calendar today. Mark it on your calendar and carve out time to make sure you go to vote. If you can't make it on the fifth, you can vote early. Information about this and absentee voting is available at mnmatterscoalition.com.  

If you plan to vote on election day, make sure you know where your polling location is in your community. It's available also at mnmatterscoalition.com, which is a program brought to you by the Minnesota Chamber, in partnership with local chambers and other trade associations across the state. We also ask you as businesspeople and people that care about the state's private sector economy and its success, to do your homework and to make sure that your ballot matters, to make sure that you have the impact you want to have for you and your business. This election is critical to the future of our state's economy, and although, yes, it is a presidential year, many races down ballot will be decided by a matter of a few votes. We have many very closely contested races in key legislative races around the state, and these races for state legislature have a direct impact on our lives.  

So, take a minute to do your homework. Make sure you know where your polling location is. If you can't make it on the fifth of November, make sure you vote early.

Also – just as a reminder – we had our inaugural year of the Coolest Thing Made in Minnesota contest last week. We want to thank everyone who participated in that program. We launched this to celebrate manufacturers, innovators and entrepreneurs, and the things that they bring to market right here in our great state. We weren't quite sure how the program would go in this first year, and really it outpaced our expectations here at the Chamber. We’re very pleased with the work of the team here at the Chamber and all those who participated in the program, as well as our Manufacturing Council for coming together to help make it work and be successful. We received an overwhelming number of nominations and hundreds of 1000’s of votes from the public through all five rounds of voting. We got a share of the excitement and in the announcement of the winner at our sold-out Manufacturers’ Summit, and we're still publicizing our winner, 3M’s Scotch magic tape.  

We’re so pleased for 3M, all the finalists and all those that were nominated for their participation in the program. We will continue to share the good news about the contributions of manufacturers of all sizes from all parts of the state, and we can't wait for next year’s contest!  

If you're interested in staying informed about the Coolest Thing Made in Minnesota contest or being part of the nomination process for next year, email us at mail@mnchamber.com.  

Again, thank you for being with us. Make sure you vote on or before Election Day, which is November 5, and thanks for being, and thank you for supporting the chamber.