Updated: 11/02/2009 5:38 PM KSTP.com | Print |  Email

Mpls. Voters Get 1st, 2nd and 3rd Choices

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Voters sorting through this fall's challengers for a south Minneapolis city council seat would have no trouble telling three of them apart: a far-left Green, a "progressive Democrat" and a center-right friend of small business.

But a change in the way Minneapolis elects its leaders has prompted an unusual partnership among the trio. They're banking that instant runoff voting will let them attract enough people to their shared corner to knock off a councilman that any one of them would have a tough time toppling alone.

"Hey, these guys are people who I trust and I think they're good candidates as well," Andy Exley, the Green Party candidate, said of fellow candidates Mike Tupper and Laura Jean. "We kind of all agree that any of us would be better than the incumbent."

On Tuesday, Minneapolis becomes the latest and one of the biggest cities to try instant runoff voting - a change that applies only to city races, not statewide or federal ballots. It's a much-touted but not yet widespread system that lets voters choose three candidates in order of preference in each race, then uses the rankings to determine the winner.

Candidates who surpass 50 percent of the vote win their races outright. But if no candidate surpasses 50 percent, the system triggers an "instant runoff," in which the bottom candidate is eliminated and second and then third choices are awarded to the top finishers until one exceeds 50 percent.

Supporters say the system makes third parties more viable because it allows people to vote for their preferred candidate, even if that candidate has little chance of winning, without having to worry they're wasting their vote. They can spend a second-place vote on a Republican or Democratic candidate. Supporters say this will encourage more positive and meaningful campaigns because candidates will have to appeal widely to pick up second- or third-choice votes.

Foes say it's confusing, inefficient and a slap against the principle of "one person, one vote."

"I think it actually favors the political majority, because an established candidate is more likely to be either someone's first or second choice," said Andy Cilek, a Minnesota activist who unsuccessfully sued to block runoff voting in Minneapolis.

The instant runoff concept isn't new. Voters in Australia and some European countries have ranked candidates at the ballot box for years. In the U.S., Minneapolis will become the second-largest city to use the system after San Francisco, which instituted it in 2004. It's also used in Pierce County, Wash.; Burlington, Vt.; and in a half-dozen smaller cities. Next year, instant runoff voting will be used in Memphis, Tenn., Oakland, Calif., and a few smaller cities.

Backers of the system got a boost after the 2000 presidential election, which neatly illustrated how such a system could have led to a different outcome. In that scenario, Al Gore might have overtaken George W. Bush if enough Ralph Nader supporters had ranked Gore as their second choice.

"Under the system that most places use, you have to vote strategically," said Jeanne Massey, executive director of FairVote Minnesota, which pushed the system in Minneapolis. "A lot of people have to vote their second choice because there is this fear that you're supporting someone who is not viable. With this voting system, there's no disadvantage to voting for your true preference."

Minneapolis voters approved the new system in 2006. St. Paul voters will decide this November whether to bring it to their city. Supporters say within a decade, they'd like to see an entire state adopt the system.

"I think this is how people will vote in the future," said Brian Melendez, chairman of the Minnesota Democratic Party. "I think 100 years from now, most municipalities in the United States will use ranked choice voting."

Rick Pildes, a law professor at New York University who's studied instant runoff, said he expects it to spread. But he's skeptical it will "fundamentally change the system of American elections," and said instant runoff voting becomes even more difficult to administer in elections for federal office.

Thus far, the instant runoff system hasn't made elections in San Francisco easier to administer or led to increased turnout, said John Arntz, the city's director of elections.

And because the federal government hasn't certified machines that can count ranked votes and Minnesota law forbids use of federally uncertified voting machines, Minneapolis officials plan to count municipal votes by hand. It could take several weeks to declare a winner in close races, said city election director Pat O'Connor.

The city hopes to have certified machines by 2013.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)