Minneapolis voters reject measure to replace police department

Voters in Minnesota's largest city have rejected what would have been an unprecedented move to dismantle the police department on Tuesday after calls for reform following the death of George Floyd. 

The measure asked voters if they favored amending the city's charter to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety. The initiative would have removed language from the charter related to the agency, including minimum funding requirements, and would have divided control of public safety between the mayor and City Council. 

The question failed 57% to 44%, according to the results released by the Minnesota Secretary of State's office with 133 of 136 precincts reporting. It needed 51% of voter approval to pass. 

"I kind of trembled a little bit in the voting booth today because I live in one of the neighborhoods most impacted by crime and violence… and knew the correlation between the lack of policing and good policing," Sondra Samuels, a Minneapolis resident who sued over the measure, told Fox News. "We can have reform and we can have enough police to keep our children, our elderly safe. So this was a win tonight."