Instant runoff voting' fares wellSupport runs high at DFL gatherings
By TIM NELSON
Published March 7th 2007 in Pioneer Press
"We're really pleased, but not surprised, at the support," said Gena Berglund, a St. Paul lawyer who is spearheading the effort to put a referendum for the alternative voting system on the ballot this fall.
In the DFL caucuses for the 3rd Ward, where Berglund lives, she said a resolution supporting IRV was introduced in 14 of the ward's 16 precincts and was approved in 13 of them.
At the Republican Party's caucuses at Central High School, 3rd Ward delegates defeated an IRV resolution, though there were only 65 GOP attendees citywide.
Although local elections are nonpartisan, formal support from the city's dominant political party is considered a must-have for any significant political effort.
Supporters say they're moving ahead on two paths.
One is through the formal political apparatus that will include a March 28 policy session before the city's DFL-dominated City Council. The council could put the idea on the fall ballot itself.
On the second front, IRV backers were gathering signatures for an initiative effort to put instant runoff voting on the ballot by petition. Mounds Park Academy student Libby Kantner, one of the original organizers of the effort, left the 1st Ward caucuses with a sheaf of petition forms. "I just turned 18," she said, "so now I can legally go out and get signatures." Berglund said she thought her organization had about 500 signatories so far � a far cry from the 4,760 that would be required to get on the ballot.
She also said there were debates in a number of caucuses about the merits and difficulties of implementing the plan.
"But I think what we have learned is that people are really hungry for this," Berglund said. "They want change."
In instant runoff voting, voters rank candidates in order of preference � first choice, second choice, etc. A candidate who receives more than 50 percent of the first-choice votes is declared the winner. Otherwise, the weakest candidate is eliminated and his or her votes are reallocated to the voters' second choices. This reallocation process continues until one candidate receives a majority of the votes.
If adopted, instant runoff likely would boost the prospects of third-party candidates, since voters could rank them highly while still voting for a major-party contender.
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers. Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections; the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.