Minnesota Farmers Union uses RCV to elect vice president
By Janet Kubat Willette, 12/01/2009
MINNEAPOLIS -- Gary Wertish is the new vice president of Minnesota Farmers Union.
Wertish, of Renville County, farms with his son, Tom, raising corn, soybeans and navy beans. They also finish hogs and cattle.
Wertish has been a MFU field representative for the past two years. He took leave from that position to run for vice president.
Wertish was elected Sunday from a pool of four candidates at the 68th annual convention of the Minnesota Farmers Union. Also running were Tim Henning of Nobles County, Scott Hoese of Carver County and Tim Velde of Yellow Medicine County.
Wertish thanked the others for running and said it was good for the organization to have four people run to fill the seat left open by the retirement of longtime vice president Dennis Sjodin.
In his acceptance speech, Wertish called Sjodin to the front and asked him to be his mentor.
Sjodin congratulated all the candidates on a nice campaign and told Wertish he wished him the best of luck.
Delegates used instant runoff voting in the vice presidential election, which is called for in MFU bylaws and policy. In this process, the candidates were ranked by the voting delegates and the winning candidate needed to get 50 percent push a fraction to win.
See You Tube Video of Union's use of IRV.