By Chad Hamblin
Published December 16th 2004 in Minnesota Daily
MSA passed an amendment to its constitution to elect future presidents
with instant runoff voting, which uses a ranking system to elect a
candidate. If a person’s first choice receives the lowest popular vote,
that candidate is removed from the running and the person’s second
choice is used instead.
Last year’s MSA Forum speaker, Marty Andrade, who is also a Minnesota Daily columnist, encouraged Forum members to vote for the amendment despite his strong opposition to it last year.
“As far as I’m concerned, (instant runoff voting) should already be in
our constitution,” he said.
One reason Andrade said the amendment should be ratified is because it
already has technically passed.
Last year, the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group collected
approximately 3,000 student signatures to amend MSA’s constitution to
use instant runoff voting, Forum member Shaun Laden said. After that
amendment appeared on the election ballot last spring, 76 percent of
voting students voted for it, which should have ratified it, he said.
Still, the amendment is not currently in MSA’s constitution. Several
Forum members said it was because the All-Campus Elections Commission — the group that oversees many elections on campus — declared the vote “nonbinding” because of a technicality. Laden said it could have been last year’s MSA speaker’s decision to ratify the amendment.
Forum member Fahad Siddiqui said he thought most people who voted for instant runoff voting in the spring had no idea what it was.
Laden said he was happy the amendment passed.
“The students have already spoken,” he said. “Had we voted against this, we would have been in direct violation of our constitution.”
The amendment is not final until students vote on it again this spring.
A majority of the student vote is required to amend the MSA constitution.
Also at the MSA meeting, Forum members approved stipends for certain Forum members.
The Stipend Review Committee voted to give the full amount of stipends
to every member entitled to one. The money awarded was for this semester only, and the next half will be awarded next semester.
with instant runoff voting, which uses a ranking system to elect a
candidate. If a person’s first choice receives the lowest popular vote,
that candidate is removed from the running and the person’s second
choice is used instead.
Last year’s MSA Forum speaker, Marty Andrade, who is also a Minnesota Daily columnist, encouraged Forum members to vote for the amendment despite his strong opposition to it last year.
“As far as I’m concerned, (instant runoff voting) should already be in
our constitution,” he said.
One reason Andrade said the amendment should be ratified is because it
already has technically passed.
Last year, the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group collected
approximately 3,000 student signatures to amend MSA’s constitution to
use instant runoff voting, Forum member Shaun Laden said. After that
amendment appeared on the election ballot last spring, 76 percent of
voting students voted for it, which should have ratified it, he said.
Still, the amendment is not currently in MSA’s constitution. Several
Forum members said it was because the All-Campus Elections Commission — the group that oversees many elections on campus — declared the vote “nonbinding” because of a technicality. Laden said it could have been last year’s MSA speaker’s decision to ratify the amendment.
Forum member Fahad Siddiqui said he thought most people who voted for instant runoff voting in the spring had no idea what it was.
Laden said he was happy the amendment passed.
“The students have already spoken,” he said. “Had we voted against this, we would have been in direct violation of our constitution.”
The amendment is not final until students vote on it again this spring.
A majority of the student vote is required to amend the MSA constitution.
Also at the MSA meeting, Forum members approved stipends for certain Forum members.
The Stipend Review Committee voted to give the full amount of stipends
to every member entitled to one. The money awarded was for this semester only, and the next half will be awarded next semester.
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.