A week of intensive GOTV events wraps up comprehensive RV awareness campaign
ST. PAUL – In just a few short hours, St. Paul voters will experience Ranked Voting for the first time – and the new voting system’s Capital City debut is expected to be every bit as successful as its Minneapolis implementation in 2009.
Voters in wards 1, 2 and 3 – each of which has three or more candidates running for city council – will have the chance to rank candidates in preferential order on the ballot. A voter’s vote always counts for her highest-ranked candidate who can use it to get elected. Her second or additional choices are backup choices, and will only count if her first choice is eliminated – as would happen in a traditional runoff.
A voter may rank only one choice, but is encouraged to rank as many candidates as she likes to ensure that her ballot continues to count if her favorite candidate is defeated.
FairVote Minnesota, the city of St. Paul and Ramsey County have spent months educating St. Paulites at neighborhood and community festivals, public forums, and demo elections, as well as through door-knocking, voter mailings and print and online media. See schedule of educational activities over the past several months on our educational website at http://votestpaul.org/.
Election results will be reported on the Ramsey County Elections website. Races in which a candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes will be declared on election night. Those in which no candidate receives a majority of first choices will be manually tallied and reported on Monday, Nov. 14. See details about St. Paul’s ranked voting elections and the counting process at http://www.co.ramsey.mn.us/elections/ranked_voting.htm
Jeanne Massey, FairVote Minnesota executive director, and St. Paul voter education coordinator Brian Kimmes are available throughout Election Day to offer information and perspective on the Ranked Voting rollout.
By folding two elections into one in local nonpartisan races, Ranked Voting (or Ranked Choice Voting, as it’s called in other cities, including Minneapolis) accomplishes what traditional two-round elections do – but in a single, cost-effective, higher turnout election.
St. Paul is one of six cities using Ranked Choice Voting tomorrow for municipal elections.
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...here's the operative quote: 'When underdogs choose not to play by Goliath's rules, they win.'
Jack Uldrich in "How the IP Can Win" Join the discussion
