October 19th, 2009 - At their monthly Pizza & Policy gathering, Target employees voted to elect their favorite pizza using Ranked Choice Voting, which will be used for Minneapolis elections November 3^rd.

The mock election was a part of an RCV information session hosted by Target - a sponsor of FairVote's educational efforts - that was designed to give employees an opportunity to practice Ranked Choice Voting before Election Day. More than 100 employees gathered to eat and to learn about the new system.

Here are the election results - not as contested as some of the upcoming Minneapolis elections, but still a heated contest among pizza lovers. "Pepporoni only please" lovers kept their strength throughout the race but didn't receive a majority of votes until Round 3.  

Round 1:

A candidate needs 57 of first choice votes to win. No candidate reaches this threshold so an “instant” runoff is triggered. Pepper Only Please is the lead favorite with 45 votes, 10 more than the second favorite, Meat Supreme.

Round 2:

Very Veggie and Cheese are tied for last place. Ties are remote in large real elections, but can happen. According to state law, ties are decided by lot.

Cheese lost the toss and was eliminated. The ballots cast for Cheese were reassigned to remaining candidates based on the 2nd preferences on those ballots.

Cheese-only lovers like to keep their pizzas simple and 10 voted for Pepperoni Only Please, pushing Pepperoni close – but not over – the threshold, so another round of counting is needed.

Round 3:

Very Veggie has the fewest votes at this stage and is eliminated. With 9 additional votes going to Pepperoni Only Please, it now surpasses the threshold and becomes the favorite of a majority of Target employees!