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Minneapolis tries ranked-choice voting

Carlos Gonzalez, Star Tribune

This is a sample ballot shown to residents who met in the chapel at Walker Place in Minneapolis on Wednesday to discuss the new ranked-choice voting system.

By STEVE BRANDT and MARY LYNN SMITH , Star Tribune staff writers

Last update: November 2, 2009 - 1:46 PM

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What's different about voting in Minneapolis this year?

You get to rank three candidates in each election contest. That's ranked-choice voting, the system the city is launching for municipal races. So in the 11-person mayor's race, you may rank one candidate as your first choice, another as your second, and a third as your final choice.

"It's a lot less confusing than it sounds once somebody explains it," Nancy Harrington, who rarely misses an election, said at an informational workshop at Webber Neighborhood Center last week.

But there are some pitfalls to avoid.

Think of the grid of candidates and choices as an expanded tic-tac-toe matrix.

You don't want to have more than one selection in any one vertical column. If you do, you've given the same ranking to two candidates. If that happens in your first-choice column, none of your selections will count. If you do it in your second- or third-choice column, only the choices before the column where there's a duplicated ranking will count.

This is one error that will be flagged when ballots are inserted into scanners, and election judges will offer a new ballot if the voter wants to correct a mistake.

You also don't want to make more than one selection in any one horizontal row. That means you're casting multiple choices for the same candidate. Your vote will still be counted, but only once. And you have forfeited your ability to make a backup selection if your first-choice candidate is eliminated from the running.

What happens if you skip a choice? If it's just your first or second choice, your lower-ranking selection will move up one notch, say, from second to first and third to second. But if you skip both your first and second choices, your third choice won't count.

Some voters are in the habit of bullet balloting when they're voting in a contest where there will be more than one winner. This year, three winners will get citywide Park Board seats, for example, while two people will be elected to the Board of Estimate and Taxation.

Under traditional voting, voters are given as many votes as there are seats to be filled. In previous elections, bullet voters might have used only one of their Park Board votes as a strategy to avoid helping a candidate who is competing with the one they really want to elect.

There's no reason to bullet ballot with ranked-choice voting, election officials say. That's because the three choices for Park Board or Board of Estimate are ranked. That means that your second- and third-choice candidates can never hurt your first choice because they'll only be counted if your favorite candidate is either elected or eliminated.

The reason for that has to do with how votes are counted, and it's a little too complicated to fully explain here. Just check voter Harrington's reaction after listening at the workshop to how ranked-choices will be tabulated: "We voted for this system? Oh, man. We must have been crazy. It seems so confusing compared to what we had."

But Michael Collins, an election judge who also attended, feels the system is worth a try. "It seems like it makes more votes count," he said.

Better late than wrong

Because the counting is complicated, the winner in some close races might not be known for weeks. "Waiting is unfortunate," said Troy Parker, a City Council candidate who attended the workshop. "But I'd rather have it late and correct than soon and wrong."

The workshop is one in a series that the city is holding to educate voters about ranked-choice voting, complete with practice ballots. They also hope to knock on the doors of 10,000 targeted houses by Election Day. The city also hopes to have extra election judges on hand at the polls to guide people. For more information about the meetings or voting method, go to: www.voteminneapolis.org/

Candidate Parker found a silver lining in the delayed results from the long counting period, saying election nights will take on a different tone.

"Everyone will have a celebration on election night. It will be a time when people can get together and have a great time and then find out later where the chips will fall."

sbrandt@startribune.com • 612-673-4438 mlsmith@startribune.com • 612-673-4595

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