Current System Sets MN up for Another Dissatisfying Election

The Aug. 10 DFL gubernatorial primary is less than two months away, and there’s still no clear majority favorite among the three contenders (Margaret Anderson Kelliher, who has the party’s endorsement, Mark Dayton and Matt Entenza). A SurveyUSA poll released Friday shows Dayton leading with 39 percent of the vote to Kelliher’s 26 percent and Entenza’s 22 percent. Only Dayton is shown beating Emmer in November. In any scenario, the poll shows the winner topping the next best by a paper-thin margin and with less than 40 percent of the vote.

This year’s gubernatorial race highlights once again the flaws in our plurality system. We haven’t seated a governor with majority support since Arne Carlson’s 1994 election, and the trend toward minority winners is poised to continue. Other multiple-candidate primaries likely to yield minority winners include the race to fill DFL Sen. Mee Moua’s seat in SD 67; at last count, nine DFLers were running. Narrowly electing minority primary winners to proceed to a general election in which a minority winner triumphs will likely foster more polarization and gridlock in state government.

Ranked Choice Voting Could Break this Dangerous Cycle of Divisive Politicking and Hamstrung Leadership

As the Independence Party’s Gedney Tuttle wrote in a May 28 Star Tribune op-ed, “Ranked Choice Voting is a consensus-building system that would mitigate the polarization of our two-party, back-and-forth political system – a system in which candidates and policymakers fight endlessly while nothing much ever seems to get done. As the pendulum swings from one extreme to the other, policymaking suffers and frustration mounts in the middle.” RCV could restore issue-based campaigning and thoughtful, moderate governance to Minnesota politics, Tuttle said.

Gedney Tuttle is one of many leading voices on the need for reform. Opinion makers of all political stripes, including DLF party chair Brian Melendez, IP party chair Jack Uldrich; US Senator Al Franken, former US Senator Dave Durenberger, Congressman Keith Ellison and many more, are advocates of Ranked Choice Voting to improve the electoral process. See full list here and contact your legislators to thank them for their support or to urge their support if they are not yet on the list!

Recent Primaries Across the Country Show Need for Ranked Choice Voting

Minnesota is not alone in producing minority winners. Several states have already held their primary elections this year and many of those primaries, due to multicandidate races, have failed to yield majority winners – in some cases necessitating later runoff elections. Time and time again, these scenarios make a compelling case for Ranked Choice Voting, which produces majority winners and saves money, time and frustration by eliminating the need for runoffs.

The most recent set of primaries held June 8 resulted in numerous winners lacking support from even half of their party’s voters. In California, 8 of 42 contested congressional primaries resulted in minority winners (most with under 40 percent of the vote). States that don’t hold runoffs – including Iowa, Maine, Montana, Nevada, South Dakota and Virginia – saw primary winners with very low support; one Nevada congressional primary winner earned just 26 percent of the vote. See full June 8 results here.

This year’s winner with the lowest vote totals? Illinois Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bill Brady, who in February eked out a primary win with just 20 percent.

Other states, including Mississippi, South Carolina and North Carolina, are holding runoffs tomorrow (June 22) while Alabama is preparing for July 13 runoffs. (Texas held its runoffs for seven different races in April.) In South Carolina, Republican U.S. Senate favorite Nikki Haley fell just short of 50 percent, forcing a runoff with a challenger who received 21 percent in the primary. Much money will be spent to reach what is likely to be an unchanged outcome. South Carolina will also hold runoffs in four congressional districts, the attorney general race and the race for state superintendent of education.

The Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times estimates that a runoff election to select a Democratic challenger to Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr will cost taxpayers $5 million -- and notes that GOP runoffs are also slated in four N.C. congressional districts. Again, low turnout is expected in all of them. “We’re burning money, time and effort on a race that, in the minds of most voters, was packed away with the winter clothing,” Citizen-Times editors wrote in an op-ed calling for RCV.

And the Greensboro (N.C.) Record observed that, as happened in 2004, a primary winner’s victory could be reversed in a low-turnout runoff next week. “A runoff is costly, unpopular and likely to produce a skewed outcome,” editors opined. “That’s not a recommendation for keeping the current system.”

The solution is not to eliminate the 50% + 1 threshold, but to meet this threshold in a different, more effective way. With RCV, the will of the majority can be determined in a single trip to the polls and eliminate the expense and falloff in turnout created by a second election.

Please Contribute Now to Invest in a Better Way

Momentum is in RCV’s favor – but FairVote Minnesota needs your contribution to help maintain it. We’ve succeeded in getting RCV in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and we’re on our way to Duluth where interest in RCV is strong. We need your donation in order to preserve our gains and move forward. Successful demonstrations in these cities will help pave the way for RCV in our state's high-stakes state and federal elections -- where we’ve unfortunately become accustomed to electing candidates who simply get the most votes, not necessarily those favored by the majority. 

We’re working day and night on a shoestring budget to do something huge: bring transformative progress to a broken electoral system. It’s an ambitious goal, and it has the potential to positively affect nearly every other important issue of the day, from education to the economy to energy and the environment. Opponents to a more open, fairer and inclusive voting system will continue distorting information to confuse the public and undo the progress we’ve made. That’s why your donation – in any amount – is so critical. Please don't wait; we need your help today! 

Celebrate TC Pride with FairVote Minnesota

Be part of a 38-year Twin Cities tradition while helping advance democracy in Minnesota: Volunteer for a shift at FairVote Minnesota’s Pride festival booth. One of our most important outreach events, the Pride festival is a fun opportunity to be outdoors, connect with old friends, make new ones and promote electoral reform. Stay all day or just join us for a couple hours; click here to sign up. If you can’t help out but will be at the festival, please stop by the booth and say hi!

If you can't help at Pride, please sign up to help at another event this summer. Or write a letter to the editor of your community newspaper on RCV’s behalf. We created a list of bulleted talking points  on our website to help you make the compelling case for Ranked Choice Voting. If you are a writer or a blogger, post your own messages or send a letter to the editor of your local paper. If you a speaker, join our Speakers' Bureau  -- become involved in any way you can given your time and interests. Help us create a better democracy in Minnesota!

Target Aids FairVote Minnesota’s Mission with $10K Donation

Heartfelt thanks to Target for helping (again) to sustain FairVote Minnesota’s work with another generous donation. The $10,000 gift – to help educate voters and policymakers about Ranked Choice Voting -- is Target’s third contribution to FairVote and will help tremendously in raising awareness about electoral reform, which will engage more voters in the process, open the political process to more voices, help reduce political extremism and gridlock, and foster civil, issue-based campaigning and governance.

Thanks to all of our foundation supporters – Otto Bremer Foundation, Minneapolis Foundation, St. Paul Foundation, Bigelow Foundation and the Duluth Superior Area Foundation -- over the past few years for their support and commitment to this important reform.

RCV Will Not Be Used in Mpls School Board Election

Many Minneapolis voters have been asking: Will this fall’s school board election have an RCV ballot? The answer is no – while most Minneapolis city elections are governed by city charter, school board elections are governed by state statute. The move to Ranked Choice Voting in Minneapolis municipal elections does not extend to school board elections.

But do note that Minneapolis school board elections have changed in another important way. Last year, voters approved a plan that created six districts in addition to three at-large positions on the school board. The district boundaries are congruent to the Minneapolis park district boundaries and districts 1, 3 and 5 are up for election this year. For additional information about the Minneapolis election changes, click here.

Duluth RCV Effort Refocuses on Building Awareness; Aims for 2011 Ballot Measure

The Duluth RCV Steering Committee has halted the push to put RCV on the ballot this year in favor of continued community discussion and education. The decision to shift gears was made when it became apparent that support among city councilors was wavering and insufficient to proactively advance a ballot measure campaign this year.

The campaign will continue to educate elected and community leaders and build support and prepare for advancing a ballot measure campaign next year. If you live in Duluth, you can help by contacting your council member and the mayor to let them know how important this reform is and to urge their full support.

If you are a Duluth or nearby resident, contact us to become involved and held build critical awareness and support and make sure voters are educated. Opponents are energetically trying to mislead and confuse voters and policymakers; we need to be sure the public is aware of their tactics and has accurate information about Ranked Choice Voting.

The Duluth RCV Steering Committee sent council members a letter correcting several inaccuracies made by RCV opponent Andy Cilek at a May 10 council meeting. And in a letter to the Duluth News Tribune, steering committee member David Vose, past vice provost for academic administration and former dean of the School of Business and Economics at the University of Minnesota Duluth, took Cilek to task for making deceptive contentions about the workings of RCV. “We should have the full facts and understand the opposition forces behind such efforts, which favor their political interests,” Vose wrote.

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