Counterpoint: Ranked-choice voting didn’t fail Minneapolis

In her new commentary calling for Minneapolis to abandon ranked-choice voting RCV Annette Meeks offers a familiar critique But her arguments overlook what in fact occurred in this year s elections and what Minneapolis voters themselves continue to say about the system RCV has now been used in Minneapolis and St Paul for more than a decade Throughout that time voters have consistently revealed strong understanding and satisfaction In repeated exit surveys more than of voters say RCV is easy to use And this year a full of Minneapolis voters ranked their ballots in the mayor s race If there were widespread confusion or frustration we would see it clearly in the information We don t What we did see in was a hard-fought mayoral poll in a city wrestling with real questions about populace safety housing and governance Those tensions did not originate with RCV They would have existed and likely would have been even more polarized under the old August primary system which would have narrowed the field early to just two candidates Mayor Jacob Frey and Omar Fateh Instead RCV ensured that all four major candidates remained on the debate stage through Nov giving voters a broader more representative more civil conversation Related It s time to scrap ranked-choice voting and its empty promises That broader field reflects one of RCV s clearest impacts increased candidate diversity RCV offers more meaningful choices and creates space for more voices and voters have taken full advantage of that opportunity It is also essential to separate criticism of the DFL endorsement convention from criticism of RCV The well-documented issues at the convention stemmed entirely from party procedures and were wholly separate from the inhabitants vote RCV was not used in the endorsement tabulation process and conflating these issues only adds confusion Another claim is that RCV has failed to reduce the influence of outside money But RCV does not govern campaign finance federal and state law do PAC spending has increased nationwide across all types of elections partisan and nonpartisan whether they use RCV or not Minneapolis is no exception In fact RCV can help blunt the influence of big money by reducing spoiler fears and encouraging candidates to seek broader coalitions rather than relying on narrow high-dollar bases Turnout in ranked-choice voting strong Turnout is another bright spot This year s turnout was exceptionally strong for an odd-year municipal referendum and far above turnout in greater part cities nationwide Before RCV Minneapolis municipal turnout frequently hovered in the low range and even lower during August primaries RCV didn t solve every turnout challenge no system can but it ensured that far more voters not fewer had a voice in choosing their mayor and council RCV is not a cure-all No voting method can eliminate political conflict or guarantee perfect behavior from candidates parties or interest groups But RCV has delivered what Minneapolis adopted it to do ensure majority winners give voters more meaningful choices eliminate low-turnout primaries and open the political process to a broader more diverse field of candidates And importantly RCV is not a partisan reorganization It is used in conservative Alaska in dozens of Utah municipalities in New York City and in small- and mid-sized cities across the country It is supported by conservatives moderates independents and progressives who want elections that better reflect voter preferences RCV didn t fail Minneapolis this year It helped the city tackle a hard balloting in a clear representative and high-participation process Instead of retreating from reforms that empower voters Minnesota should continue building on what s working and RCV is one of those things Michael Minta is FairVote Minnesota board member and a professor of political science at the University of Minnesota The post Counterpoint Ranked-choice voting didn t fail Minneapolis appeared first on MinnPost