Minnesota lawmakers pushing ranked-choice voting for all state, federal races

Nearly 15 years ago, Minneapolis became the first Minnesota city to switch to ranked-choice voting, acting as a laboratory for a new system that supporters argued would tamp down the sharp division that ails politics.

Four other Minnesota cities have since followed, and proponents say the experiment is over: The system works and Minnesota should take the next step toward implementing it for all state and federal races.

"Ranked-choice voting is tried and tested," said Jeanne Massey, executive director of FairVote Minnesota, a nonprofit that has spent nearly two decades pushing for broader use of the system. "The benefits of ranked-choice voting are not theoretical. It is one of the most effective ways to put a big dent in the division and disinformation that is undermining our democracy."

When voters rank candidates in order of preference, proponents argue, extreme candidates are penalized and coalition builders elevated. Proposals moving in the DFL-controlled House and Senate would open the door for more cities to use ranked choice in 2024 and create a task force to recommend no later than 2027 how to implement the system for statewide and national races.

Opponents of the voting method say the results have been mixed in Minnesota and across the country. Alaska and Maine use ranked-choice on a larger scale, along with some cities in other states. Republican lawmakers argue that the system is confusing and would diminish election confidence in a state where voters regularly turn out in record numbers.

A spokesperson for the Minnesota Secretary of State's office said Wednesday that the state "is not yet ready for statewide ranked-choice voting."

"The state could someday become ready, but only after a thorough examination of the structures and practices that would have to change to accommodate such a major shift in how we administer elections," spokesperson Darwin Forsyth said in an email.

The change would move Minnesota away from the plurality system in elections, where the candidate with the largest share of votes wins, and into one where multiple candidates are ranked in order of preference. If no candidate receives 50% or more of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and all of that person's votes are distributed to whichever candidate those voters ranked second. That process continues until one candidate has 50% or more of the vote.

The ranking system rewards candidates who appeal to their opponent's supporters for their second- and third-choice votes, supporters argue.

"They do that by running positive campaigns that focus on policy solutions rather than personal attacks," said state Sen. Kelly Morrison, DFL-Deephaven, who is sponsoring the proposal. "That's exactly the antidote we need to address our political divisions."

Voters in Maine use ranked-choice for state and federal primaries, and for federal races in the general election, according to the Maine Secretary of State's Office. During its first year of use in 2018, a Democrat running for a congressional seat defeated a GOP incumbent after running slightly behind in the first round of voting before other candidates were eliminated. Minnesota's proposed system would also use ranked choice for partisan primaries.

Alaska started using a new system last year. In a non-partisan open primary, a voter casts a vote for just one candidate per race and the top four regardless of party move on to the general election, according to Alaska's Division of Elections. Ranked choice is then used in the general election.

Proponents point to Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola's victory in a special election in Alaska last summer, winning enough second-choice rankings from the third-place GOP candidate to narrowly defeat former Republican Gov. Sarah Palin. Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski also beat out a GOP challenger backed by former President Donald Trump in the third round of ranked-choice voting last fall.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said she was "was part of the original crew" who figured out how to implement the voting method in Minneapolis when she was chief of staff to the mayor. She pointed to Alaska's version of ranked choice as having "a big impact" on Murkowski's victory.

"I'll leave it to the Minnesota Legislature who's dealing with this issue to decide what's best, but I have been supportive of ranked-choice voting," Smith said.

Making such a shift could pose challenges for local elections officials, who administer the elections in all 87 counties. That decentralized system makes it challenging to sort out how the more complex counting process would work.

Forsyth said local officials need to have "a stronger voice on the proposed taskforce because they would be the ones responsible for implementing this complex transformation of our election system."

Opponents say the system has had mixed results across the country in getting rid of negative campaigning, and voters who only like one candidate face a dilemma.

"Either vote for a candidate whom the voter does not know or support, or risk having their voting power diminished by a person who makes more than one selection," said Brian Cook with the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, which opposes using the system statewide.

Under the proposal, some cities could continue with a plurality system for municipal contests, even as Minnesota moves to ranked choice for state and federal races. Legislative Republicans say the system would cause massive confusion, with voters having to wait longer than they are used to for election results.

"There is no reason not to have darn election results the same night that we cast our ballots," said state Sen. Andrew Mathews, R-Princeton, who sits on the Senate elections committee. "This will absolutely move us far away and lock in permanently a days- and weeks-long counting process."

Some of Minnesota's congressional Republicans also broadly pan the idea, with U.S. Rep. Michelle Fischbach saying she opposes ranked choice. U.S. Rep. Brad Finstad said "in general, from what I've seen and where I've seen it implemented, I'm not a fan of it."

However, Minnesota's main swing district Democrat, U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, said she's long been a ranked-choice voting supporter. A third party candidate has been on the ballot in the last two races for her seat, and Craig pointed to ranked-choice voting as something that "would cut down on a lot of nonsense of planting third-party candidates on the ballot for political reasons."

"I think ranked-choice voting doesn't favor a party," Craig said. "It helps the candidate that's able to build the broadest coalition of voter support. And to me, that's what our democracy should demand."