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Election judges take matters in hand to determine close races

Though sometimes called instant-runoff voting, it's anything but. Votes are being counted by hand in cases where no one won 50 percent plus one vote.

By STEVE BRANDT, Star Tribune

Last update: November 4, 2009 - 9:18 PM

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Now it's time for ranked-choice voting to go to work -- ever so slowly.

The backup choices made by Minneapolis voters on Tuesday will determine who won three city-wide Park Board seats, two district park seats, the second elected seat on the Board of Estimate and Taxation, and whether two City Council incumbents on the North Side get the hook or another four years.

But the answers won't come soon, even though some 125 election judges began the painstaking hand-sorting of ballots Wednesday at the city's northeast Minneapolis election warehouse. Interim Election Director Patrick O'Connor said he's disappointed by the turnout of 45,964 voters -- the lowest in at least 20 years for a city election -- but it means counting should go faster.

Counting starts with council races, in the order determined by lots drawn two weeks ago.

Wards where the outcome is in doubt include the Fourth Ward race, where City Council President Barbara Johnson leads on first choices but remains under 50 percent, and the Fifth Ward, where incumbent Don Samuels is in the same situation. At 47 percent, both may well squeeze over the 50 percent threshold for election when the backup choices of voters are counted, but they may not know for a week or two. Two other council races have winners hovering close to 50 percent, but that may change when voter errors are tallied.

Votes from the also-rans

Because ranked-choice voting turns to those backup choices, the leader after the first choices are tallied may not be the ultimate winner. The backup choices come first from the candidates who are dropped from the canvass because they're too far behind to have a mathematical chance to win.

Here's how that would play out in the Nokomis area Park Board seat, where Carol Kummer has 37.7 percent of first-choice votes and Jason Stone has 35.6 percent, both well below the threshold of 50 percent:

Also-ran McClain Looney will be dropped first, and the people who chose him first will have their second-choices tallied. Ditto for Dan W. Peterson.

But the small number of votes may not be enough to push either Kummer or Stone over the threshold. So then counters will turn to the vote-rich Steve Barland, who garnered 20 percent of first round tallies. If the backup choices of his supporters were to favor Stone over Kummer, it's possible Stone could win, despite Kummer's first-round lead.

Park, Estimate boards are last

Because the hand-count is proceeding from the smallest electoral geography to the largest, the votes for the three city-wide Park Board seats, as well as the second seat on the Board of Estimate and Taxation, will be counted last.

None of the eight candidates for city-wide park seats had hit the 25 percent threshold based on unofficial counts, although Bob Fine was closest. So backup votes will be shifted from choices made by supporters of the dropped candidates. If Fine goes over the top, a proportion of his surplus votes will be shifted according to the backup choices of those who picked him first.

Ditto for the contest to fill the second seat on the Board of Estimate and Taxation, where David Wheeler had 19 percent of first-choice votes but needs to hit a 33 percent threshold.

O'Connor, the interim election official, offered no firm deadline for completing the counts except to say they'll be finished for a canvassing board to certify them during Christmas week. He said he expects counters to work six days a week and to gain in efficiency as they gain experience.

Candidate Troy Parker, who ran second to Johnson in the Fourth Ward, complained Wednesday that election officials weren't allowing outside observers like him close enough to actually observe anything. "You might as well stay home," he said.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438

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