Star Tribune - Ranked-choice voting debuts with few stumbles

Minneapolis voters seemed to adjust to ranked-choice voting with relative ease on Tuesday, even if many didn't use all three choices the new voting method allows.

Now the days and weeks of waiting for official results begins, with hand-counting to clarify winners in races too close to call without adding second and third choices by voters.

Read the complete article.

How will the Vote be Counted?

The counting procedures work differently under a ranked choice voting election. On election night, ballot counting machines will be used to provide unofficial first round results. A hand count will be required in all races to obtain the official results. Beginning the day after the election, City Elections staff must conduct several administrative procedures before a hand count can begin. Then the hand-counting of each of the 22 offices on the ballot can begin.

In Minneapolis, Ranked Choice Voting will use the voting and counting method known as Single Transferable Vote for single seat offices as well as multiple seat offices.

For single seat offices (Mayor, City Council Members, and Park Board District Commissioners)

All the ballots are sorted and counted, and the first choice votes are tallied. If no candidate receives the required number of votes to win, the winner is selected through a series of rounds. First, candidates who received the lowest number of votes are eliminated. Next, voters who cast votes for eliminated candidates will have their votes redistributed to their next choice.

For single seat offices, a candidate who receives 50% of the vote plus one vote is elected. If there are only two candidates left and neither has 50% plus one, the candidate with the most votes is elected.

HERE IS AN EXAMPLE

In a race where 3,000 votes are cast, the winning threshold is 1,501 votes (3000/2 + 1 vote)

Round 1: The total first choice votes are counted and none of the candidates have received a majority of the votes cast.

Round 2: Since no candidate reached the threshold, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and votes for this candidate are redistributed based on the voters’ second choices. That means that candidate Wirth is eliminated and 250 of his votes are redistributed to candidate Matthews and another 250 to candidate North Commons. Again, none of the candidates have received a majority of votes, and we move to the next round.

Round 3: Candidate Matthews has the fewest number of votes and is eliminated. All 950 of candidate Matthews’ votes are redistributed to the next choice on those ballots, candidate North Commons. Now candidate North Commons has received a majority of votes cast and is the winner.

For multiple seat offices (two seats for Board of Estimate and Taxation At-Large, and three seats for Park Board At-Large ), 

Multiple seat races work a little differently.  

All the ballots are sorted and counted, and the first choice votes are tallied. Any candidate who reaches the winning threshold is elected. If all of the seats are not filled, all candidates who have no mathematical chance of winning are eliminated. Votes for the eliminated candidates are then redistributed to the voters’ next choices. Then, if all the seats are still not filled, the election judges take the surplus votes of the candidate who has the largest number of surplus votes and redistributes those votes to the next choice candidate on those ballots.

These “surplus” votes are allocated proportionately to the remaining candidates according to the voters’ next choices. That proportion is calculated by dividing the number of surplus votes the winning candidate received by the total votes for the winning candidate. If all the seats are still not filled after the surplus votes have been redistributed, the process of eliminating candidates who have the lowest number of votes is repeated.

This process continues until all the seats are filled.

For Board of Estimate and Taxation, an election for 2 seats, a candidate who receives 33% of the vote plus one vote is elected.

For Park Board At-Large, an election for 3 seats, a candidate who receives 25% of the vote plus one vote is elected.

In a race where 4000 votes are cast, the winning threshold for this election for 3 seats is 1,001 votes (4,000/4 + 1 vote)

Round 1 The total first-choice votes are counted and Lake Nokomis wins in the first round. There are still two more seats that need to be filled.

Round 2 Next we eliminate the candidate who has no mathematical chance of being elected. Candidate Brownie Lake is mathematically eliminated because it is impossible for him to get more votes than the next higher candidate. The votes for Brownie Lake are then redistributed to Lake Calhoun and Lake Hiawatha based on the second choice on Brownie Lake’s ballots. Now Lake Hiawatha has enough votes to win and only one seat is left to fill.

Round 3 Now we take the surplus votes of the candidate who has the largest number of surplus votes and redistribute those votes to the next choice candidate on those ballots. Both Lake Nokomis and Lake Hiawatha have a surplus because they both have more than 1,001 votes. In this case, Lake Nokomis has the largest surplus, with 299 more votes than needed to win. These surplus votes are proportionally redistributed to remaining candidates based on the next choice on Lake Nokomis’ ballots

Lake Nokomis received 23 percent (299/1300) more votes than needed to win, so 23 percent of each ballot cast for Lake Nokomis is redistributed to the next choice on that candidate’s ballots. When the votes are redistributed, Lake Calhoun goes over the threshold and all three seats have been filled. Lake Nokomis, Lake Hiawatha, and Lake Calhoun are the three winners.

TC Daily Planet - New Ranked Choice Voting allows voters to vote for first, second, third choice

Minneapolis voters will find a new type of ballot at the polls on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3. The ballots allow voters to vote for their first choice, second choice and third choice for city offices.

The change is part of the move to a new system of voting called "Ranked Choice Voting," approved in a city referendum in 2006 by a wide margin.

Read the complete story.

Star Tribune - Minneapolis tries ranked-choice voting

What's different about voting in Minneapolis this year?

You get to rank three candidates in each election contest. That's ranked-choice voting, the system the city is launching for municipal races. So in the 11-person mayor's race, you may rank one candidate as your first choice, another as your second, and a third as your final choice.

"It's a lot less confusing than it sounds once somebody explains it," Nancy Harrington, who rarely misses an election, said at an informational workshop at Webber Neighborhood Center last week.

Read the complete article here.

Neighbor to Neighbor Outreach -- now on Sundays!

Help make sure that Minneapolis voters are prepared for the polls on November 3rd.  Join us Saturdays and Sundays for our Neighbor to Neighbor Outreach.

This Sunday (October 25) we'll meet at Overflow Cafe (2929 University Ave. SE) at 1pm.

And next weekend, we'll meet at....

Saturday, October 31, 10am and 1pm
-Steamworks Coffee, 44th and Penn Ave N.
 
Sunday, November 1, 1pm
-Tillie's Bean, Nicollet and Franklin

We'll also be dropping fliers around key points of the City on Monday, November 2.  Stop by our offices (2323 E. Franklin) to pick up a route and materials anytime between 10am and 6pm.

?s: 612-605-8370 or info@voteminneapolis.org

Ranked Choice Voting Hand Count procedure

For those of you who missed the presentation last Wednesday, below is a slideshow about the hand count.

Ranked Choice Voting Hand Count

View more presentations from Ona Keller.

Questions?  Contact Ona Keller, RCV Outreach Coordinator, at 612-605-8370.

WCCO - Mpls. To Teach Voters To Use Ranked Choice Ballots

If you plan to step into a Minneapolis voting booth next month, you'll be seeing an entirely new kind of ballot. In 2006, voters approved a new system called "ranked choice voting."

Read the complete story here.

Question of the Week - How do I know that my vote will be counted properly?

How do I know that my vote will be counted properly?

The counting process is a little more complicated than in past elections. The City of Minneapolis Elections Department has developed procedures to ensure that all votes will be counted properly. First, your vote will never be distributed to a candidate that you did not rank. Your vote will only be distributed to candidates that you do rank.

Second, the counting procedures have numerous redundancies to ensure that any counting errors are caught and corrected immediately. The voter error accounting, counting, and sorting are all done by different teams of election judges. Each team that handles ballots is made up of two judges from different political parties. Even the data entry and simple math needed to identify the winner is done by two separate teams of election judges.

It is important to remember that the vote count will always be open for observation by the public. All of the round-by-round results will be released to the public as they are available. In addition, at the end of the count, voters will know how every ballot in the City was marked.

Question of the Week - Do I have to vote in all three columns?

Do I have to vote in all three columns?

No. You do not have to vote for a candidate in each of the three columns. You have the choice of voting in only the first column, or the first and second columns, or you can fill all three columns. And, just like past elections, you are not required to vote for every office. Only vote for those candidates and offices that you wish to.

MPR - Minneapolis holding instant-runoff training workshops

by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
October 9, 2009

Minneapolis — Minneapolis officials will hold 14 voter training workshops in the next few weeks, designed to reduce confusion in the city's first Ranked Choice Voting election this November.

At the events, participants can practice voting on Ranked Choice ballots. The ballot allows voters to rank their top three choices for mayor, city council, the board of estimate and taxation, and the park and recreation board.

The city has also created an online educational video and an interactive tool to practice using the new ballot.

The video stresses that voters cannot select the same candidate for all three ranked slots and should be careful not to mark their choices in the wrong section.

"This will be an historic moment in Minneapolis elections," said Patrick O'Connor, the city's elections director. "The city of Minneapolis wants to make sure that all voters are prepared when they come to the polls November 3."

Online resources and workshop details are available on the Vote Minneapolis website.