Oct 19, 2009 11:00 pm US/Central
Mpls. To Teach Voters To Use Ranked Choice Ballots
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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Minneapolis voters will now be able to vote for their first, second and third choices for the elected offices.
CBS
If you plan to step into a Minneapolis voting booth next month, you'll be seeing an entirely new kind of ballot. In 2006, voters approved a new system called "ranked choice voting."
It'll go into effect for the Nov. 3, 2009 Minneapolis mayoral, city council, Park Board and Board of Estimate and Taxation elections.
"What this did is it actually combined the primary and the general election into one event," said Mike Dean, a City of Minneapolis employee who led a workshop Monday night on the new system. It's the first of 14 workshops over the next 14 days to educate voters.
The primary was cancelled, so all of the candidates for each of the city offices will be on the general election ballot. Officials hope more people will vote on the full range of candidates because general election turnout is generally higher.
Minneapolis voters will now be able to vote for their first, second and third choices for the elected offices.
"I think the actual voting is not confusing at all," said Pat O'Connor, Minneapolis Elections Interim Director.
What's more confusing is how the votes will be counted. Given the system is so new, all of the votes will have to be hand-counted before they can be officially certified by the state. That could take up to two months. Voters, though, should know preliminary results right after the election.
In ranked choice voting, a candidate can only win with a majority (more than half) of the votes. If that doesn't happen after all the first choice votes are counted, the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated. That candidate's second-choice votes are redistributed to the other candidates. This process is repeated until the winner secures a majority of the votes.
St. Paul is considering moving toward a ranked choice voting system. They will vote on it in November.
For more information on the workshops and ranked choice voting, go to the
city's elections Web site.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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