For Immediate Release: November 4, 2009

FairVote Minnesota Applauds Adoption of Instant Runoff Voting for Saint Paul

SAINT PAUL, MN – (Nov. 4, 2009)– Fair Vote Minnesota today called Saint Paul’s approval of Instant Runoff Voting “a win for the people of Saint Paul.”

“The people of Saint Paul – in neighborhoods across the city – went to the polls today and voted for a better way to elect their municipal leaders,” said Ellen Brown, FairVote Minnesota board member and coordinator of the Saint Paul Better Ballot Campaign. “The results are a win for better elections, for greater participation, for more civil public debate and – most of all – a win for the people of Saint Paul.”

The proposed change to the city’s charter was approved with 52 percent of the vote and will require the use of Instant Runoff Voting to elect the city’s mayor and city council members.

Brown credited the work of hundreds of volunteers throughout the city who worked in support of the local “Better Ballots Campaign” with creating the momentum for victory:

“This was a classic grassroots campaign, powered and led by Saint Paul citizens with jobs and families, leaves to rake, practices, bills to pay, homework and more,” Brown said. “Even so, they found more time and more energy to make this effort a success. They are an inspirational example for everyone.”

Brown said the resources and expertise of Fair Vote Minnesota are available to Saint Paul election officials as they undertake implementation of the city charter amendment.

Instant Runoff Voting or IRV, also known as Ranked Choice Voting, is a tested, accepted and implementable system by which voters rank candidates in order of preference, ensuring majority winners in single-winner races where there are more than two candidates on the ballot. Under IRV, voters cast their vote for their favorite candidate knowing that if no candidate gathers a majority of votes in the first round of counting their votes can count toward their second choice. Votes cast for the less popular candidates are not "wasted", but rather redistributed to more popular candidates, based on the voters' second choices, until one candidate emerges with a majority of votes.

Saint Paul joins Minneapolis and more than a half a dozen other jurisdictions around the United States and democracies around the world, including Ireland and Australia in using Instant Runoff Voting.

FairVote Minnesota was founded in 1996 to work for better democracy through public education and advocating progressive voting systems that lead to greater competitiveness, better representation and more participation.