2009 Dakota County Fair
Thank you to all the fair-goers that visited our booth! Another big thanks to everyone who shared their opinions in both our annual Bean Poll and in the sample IRV ballot ... We learn so much about you, our constituents, in the process!
Bean Poll Results
943 people participated in the Bean Poll, which statisticians say yields about a 4% margin of error. At the fair, it would be impossible to conduct a truly scientific poll. But we feel the results are reliable and fairly representative of Dakota County.
Favorite Minnesota pro sports team - And the winner is ...
To demonstrate how easy voting can be with the Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) method, we asked fair-goers to vote for their favorite Minnesota pro sports team. We included 8 different teams on the ballot, and also allowed for write-in votes. This gave people the ability to vote for just about any team they really wanted, even if it wasn't a pro team or even a Minnesota team. (You Packers and Yankees fans know who you are.)
The purpose behind this voting method (also called Instant Runoff Voting, or IRV) is to ensure that the winner is elected by a clear majority of the voters. 96 ballots were cast, so a majority would be 49 votes needed to win. (A majority is 50% +1, or 96/2 + 1 = 49.)
The first-round balloting had the Twins in the lead, but with about 10% shy of a majority of the votes cast. Here are the first-round totals:
Votes Team
39 Twins (baseball)
29 Vikings (men's football)
29 Vikings (men's football)
14 Wild (ice hockey)
5 Timberwolves (men's basketball)
3 Thunder (soccer)
1 Lynx (women's basketball)
1 Swarm (indoor lacrosse)
0 Vixen (women's football)
1 Gophers (write-in)
1 Bulldogs (write-in, UMD hockey)
1 Packers (write-in)
1 Yankees (write-in)
5 Timberwolves (men's basketball)
3 Thunder (soccer)
1 Lynx (women's basketball)
1 Swarm (indoor lacrosse)
0 Vixen (women's football)
1 Gophers (write-in)
1 Bulldogs (write-in, UMD hockey)
1 Packers (write-in)
1 Yankees (write-in)
In subsequent rounds, the votes were redistributed to their 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th ranked choices until one team reached a clear majority. So here are the final-round results.
Votes Team
55 Twins (baseball)
37 Vikings (men's football)
3 Wild (ice hockey)
1 Gophers (write-in)
37 Vikings (men's football)
1 Gophers (write-in)
Congratulations to the Minnesota Twins for being the Favorite Team of Dakota County fair-goers! (Ironically, the results might have been different had the vote been conducted after Brett Favre arrived in Minnesota to sign with the Vikings!)