The last one now will later be first

Pioneer Press Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:32:40 -0600
Instant runoff election idea goes to St. Paul Charter Commission

For the first time since 1991, St. Paul residents could be asked this November to vote on whether to change the city charter. The vote could lead to a fundamental switch in the way the city's mayor and council are elected, by ditching primaries and instead asking voters to rank their choices on a single ballot. Several cities, including Minneapolis, have adopted so-called instant runoff voting, and supporters say it revs up interest in politics by holding only a single vote, with all comers competing down to the wire. "It gets more candidates in front of voters when more voters are at the polls," said Ellen Brown, a campaign coordinator for the St. Paul Better Ballot Campaign. But detractors, including those behind a Minnesota lawsuit challenging instant runoff voting, argue the system has problems on several fronts, including violating the U.S. Constitution. They concede that it looks fair at first glance, but say problems lie in the details. "It's the hanging-chad problem times 1,000," said Andy Cilek, executive director of the Minnesota Voters Alliance, the group that brought the suit against Minneapolis and who predicts the case will go to the U.S. Supreme Court. Instant runoff voting works by having voters rank their preferred candidates. If no candidate gets a majority on the first ballot, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and his or her supporters' second-choice votes are redistributed throughout the remaining field of candidates. The process is repeated until someone gets a majority.

[[keywords: Elections;Metro;]]