By Lori Sturdevant
Published September 9th 2008 in Minneapolis Star Tribune
In a state that's still reeling from the heady experience of hosting a national political convention, it doesn't seem possible that it's time to go to the polls on Tuesday.
That's this Tuesday, Sept. 9 -- the return of Minnesota's poorly timed primary election. This newspaper isn't a fan of Minnesota's second Tuesday in September primary schedule. It devotes too much of the election-year calendar to intraparty warfare and doesn't allow enough time for the general election showdown. It also separates the candidate selection process into two distinct phases -- party endorsement in the spring, primary campaign in the summer. Those two ought to be melded, so that party leaders can watch and choose among candidates whose public campaigns are already in progress.
We prefer a June primary. We also are intrigued with instant runoff voting, the vote-by-rank-order experiment that the city of Minneapolis proposes to run for the state in next year's city election (provided it isn't derailed by the courts). In non-partisan elections, instant runoff voting would make Tuesday's low-turnout, high-cost election unnecessary. One ballot in November would do it all.
All those options are for another day. This Tuesday, please vote. Polls are open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. To bone up on the choices you'll find on your ballot, visit the "My Vote" section of startribune.com/politics.
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.