March 25, 2008 – “Creating a healthy democracy is the best reason for Instant Runoff Voting”, said former Minnesota Senate Majority Leader John Hottinger and St. Paul resident at a public hearing on IRV sponsored by the Saint Paul Charter Commission on March 24th. Former St. Paul City Council member and Ramsey County Commissioner Ruby Hunt IRV added that IRV will eliminate the problem of “lower and lower turnout at primary elections”, a key theme in her and former Mayor George Latimer’s March 21st Pioneer Press op-ed titled: “More choice, more influence, more participation”.

Proponents of Instant Runoff Voting outnumbered opponents 10 to 1 at the hearing and urged the Saint Paul Charter Commission to put IRV on the ballot this November.

Election law attorney, professor and Saint Paul resident David Schultz reassured the Charter Commission that Instant Runoff Voting is constitutional in Minnesota and upholds the constitutional principle of “one-person, one vote, as courts have found in Michigan and Massachusetts.

IRV elections are the same as a series of separate runoff races in which one candidate is eliminated from each election, only IRV is able to accomplish that in a single election due to the voter's ranking of preferences on the ballot. If a candidate receives a majority of first choice votes, that candidate wins. If not, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and votes cast for this candidate are redistributed to the second choice listed on each ballot. This process is repeated until one candidate has a majority of votes.

Ellen Brown, chair of the St. Paul Better Ballot Campaign board announced that the campaign has collected nearly 6,000 signatures to put IRV on the ballot, but welcomed the support of Charter Commission or City Council in placing the question on the ballot. She highlighted that a growing number of cities in the United States now use IRV and all the exit polls show voters think it’s easy and prefer it to traditional two-round and plurality elections.

Several others emphasized the benefits IRV would bring to Saint Paul elections, including:

• simplifying elections for voters and reducing costs by folding two elections into one
• maximizing voter participation in the decisive November election
• broadening access for underrepresented communities and nontraditional candidates
• decreasing divisiveness
• solving the spoiler dynamic and concerns of “wasting” one’s vote

FairVote Minnesota Executive Director Jeanne Massey responded to questions relating to the implementation of IRV. She clarified that IRV-capable voting equipment should be available by 2011, when Ramsey County anticipates it will replace existing voting equipment. If IRV were adopted this year and first used in 2009, precinct IRV-capable machines would not be necessary because the mayoral race would be the only scheduled ranked-ballot race on the municipal ballot. For this race, the first choices on all the ballots could be counted using existing machines just as they are now. There would be a need to proceed to another round of counting only if there were no winner with a majority of first choice votes. In this case, subsequent rounds of counting could be done by hand or an IRV-capable central scanner if available.

Only one attendee spoke against the proposed charter amendment, not on its merits, but on the basis that voters need time to learn more about it.

One member of the Charter Commission expressed surprise by the lack of opposition to IRV, but Better Ballot Campaigners who have been collecting signatures aren’t surprised. With nearly 6,000 signatures in hand, we know Saint Paul voters like IRV and think it’s the smart way to vote.

We are not alone. Minnesota League of Women Voters member Marcia Oliver shared that the LWV overwhelmingly endorsed IRV in 2005 following an exhaustive study of voting methods and concluded that IRV is the best system of voting for state and local elections in Minnesota.

Jon Pratt, Executive Director Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, which has also endorsed Instant Runoff Voting, concluded the hearing by reminding the audience “democracy is a work in progress” and that we must strive for better, fairer elections for all voters.

This is the aim of the Better Ballot Campaign, which continues to collect signatures to put IRV on the ballot this November. If you haven’t signed the petition yet click here to download and sign or watch for Better Ballot Campaigners in orange t-shirts with a clipboard in hand.

The Charter Commission is planning another public hearing. Stay tuned for notice of date and location.