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2024 REPEAL Ranked Choice Ballot Question

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Repeal Ranked Choice Voting

What You Need to Know

• RCV is unnecessarily complicated and confusing. An average of 10-20% of ballots are thrown out because they are filled out incorrectly. Here are Bloomington's RCV instructions in Article III - see if you can figure it out.
• RCV is not fair,  disenfranchises and silences voters who exercise their right to vote- some voters have multiple choices counted while other voter’s ballots do not count in all rounds of ranking.  If a voter fails to rank all candidates, the ballot could be "exhausted" - a term for throwing out a vote. Traditional voting means one person, One vote.
• RCV reduces voter engagement and frustrates voter turnout, especially among disadvantaged voters. * Turnout does not always improve.  A comparison in Bloomington from the Secretary of State's website shows that RCV election turnout in 2021 was lower than the 2019 regular election - 15,504 voters (2021) to 17,859 voters (2019).  The actual registered voters were up in 2021 - 59,152 to 56,950 in 2019 which further emphasizes that difference in turnout.  In the 2023 election, turn out was 20,408 however, there were three highly controversial ballot questions that may have increased the interest in voting.  Still only 35.91% of all Registered Voters is disappointing.
• RCV delays election results and requires a convoluted and centralized tabulation process. Counting the final results in RCV elections is time consuming, expensive, and rarely are election results available on Election Day.  Tabulations are now calculated by special spreadsheets which are not always secure.
• **There is bipartisan opposition to RCV.  In 2024, the Democrat led House  stopped the proposed statewide Minnesota RCV bill from moving forward for a second time in as many years.
• RCV is funded by big money special interest groups outside of Bloomington. In 2020, FairvoteMN spent over $200,000 to promote RCV while resident opposition spent $7,000. The ordinance passed by only 96 votes. (Required 51% to pass)
• *A UofM study shows that RCV fails to improve upon the traditional voting system. The Humphrey Institute Report about RCV can be found at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iAsKwu0rivY1zNtnyxaiHKhGlVcOjSPA/view?usp=share_link

Click here for a copy of The RCV Debate.: A Closer Look      

What is Ranked Choice Voting?

Ranked Choice Voting is a change from the traditional Primary/General system of voting where you are asked to "rank" candidates for each  "round" of voting instead of just one candidate.  If no candidate wins in the first round by 50 +1%, tabulation of the first round determines the lowest ranking candidate(s), eliminates them and recalculates the eliminated ballots' 2nd place choices to the remaining candidates for round 2 and so forth until a candidate wins with "a majority" in the final round. (Refer to video below)   Confusing?

Ranked Choice Voting voting is promoted by an organization called FairVote which has branches in many states. In Minnesota, FairVote Minnesota establishes itself in municipalities by lobbying the city governments to establish a city chapter. In Bloomington's case it is RCVBloomington.  The disclaimer on the rcvbloomington webpage states: "Ranked Choice Voting Bloomington is a project of FairVote Minnesota."

How Do I Vote With Ranked Choice Voting?

Ranked Choice Voting is complicated and confusing:

A ballot is straightforward and easy when voting for one candidate.  When asked to choose multiple candidates for the same office by preference, there is often confusion which leads to more votes being cast aside and not counted.  In fact, your vote may be thrown out if you don't rank candidates in all the rounds.  That means you are not voting your true preference but forced to rank those you may not agree with.

In the ballot illustration above, let's say that your first choice (Candidate 3) got the least amount of votes. (You actually chose the loser). Your ballot will be recounted a second time distributing your second choice (Candidate 5) to Candidate 5's 1st round votes and the votes are retallied for round two among the remaining 4 candidates. Let's also say that in round 2, your 2nd place choice, Candidate 5, had the fewest votes in round 2, no one has yet reached the 50 +1%  and Candidate 5 is eliminated.  Your vote will again get redistributed into round three with your vote being added to your third choice, Candidate 1 in Round 3 tallies. 

RCV is not fair:

When you vote you normally have one choice?  As do all your neighbors.  A choice is a vote.  Doesn't it make sense that If you get more choices you get more votes?  Let's see how that works out.

If your ballot consistently ranks the least favorite candidate in each round, your vote gets redistributed over and over again.  You had multiple choices (votes counted) whereas any one who chose any of the Candidates in round 1 who stayed in the race to round 2, counted only one vote for the whole election.  Voters are also disenfranchised because ballots that do not include the two finalists are exhausted (not counted) diluting the true majority of Bloomington voter preference.  How is any of this fair?  

In Bloomington: For the 2020 at-large race, anyone who chose either Coulter or King for their 1st Choice in round 1were credited with only one vote in the election.  Those who ranked the eliminated candidate, Oliva for their 1st choice in round 1, got a second choice/vote in round 2.  If anyone chose Oliva in the 1st round and either no 2nd choice or Oliva again in the 2nd round, their vote was thrown out.  How is it fair the King voter and the Coulter voter gets only one vote and the Oliva voter gets two votes in the race?  The weights of the votes are unequal.   Make is simple:  One person one vote.

Bloomington Residents get disconnected from the Issues:

Voters under RCV are now more distracted and concerned with the "tactics" of their vote than the issues the candidates represent. While candidates are forced to attempt to form coalitions to win, coalitions, like anything can be distracting for both the candidate and the voter.  They may be dominated by one powerful organization and not the candidate's independence.  The candidates may be coerced to change their true ability to focus on the voter's benefit.  Coalitions can also become very bureaucratic and stymy the progress of a common goal.  

How can I get involved in Bloomington?

Our Bloomington Charter Commission twice advised the City Council in June 2020 to NOT proceed with putting a new confusing way of voting on the ballot as a referendum, especially during the peak of COVID lock downs. In typical city disregard for its residents, they Ranked Choice Voting on the ballot anyway in the fall of 2020.   Contact us by email or form to let us know you are interested in returning to Keeping Voting Simple and holding the City accountable.  

What were the results of the 2021 RCV election in Bloomington?

There were 3 city races in 2021 that were elected by Ranked Choice Voting.  In 2019, Bloomington had municipal elections using the simple primary system.  Did more people turn out to vote in our first RCV election compared to 2019?  Answer is no.  2019 under the Primary/General system 17,859 out of 56,950 registered voted.  In 2021, under RCV, only 15,504 voters came to the polls out of 59,152 registered voters. 

• The results of the City-At-Large council position favored the incumbent with a 7.7% of all votes exhausted going two rounds. 
• The results of the District 4 council position favored the incumbent with a 9.32% of all votes exhausted going two rounds.
• The results of the District 3 council position elected a new member in the first round with a 4.16% exhaustion rate.

                *The more rounds to an eventual winner (Bloomington can go with up to 6) the higher the exhausted ballots that do not count in the end.
                 **The greater the number of exhausted ballots, the lower the threshold to a majority winner (diluted majority when considering all voters).

What do others have to say about Ranked Choice Voting?

Minnesota

          The late Walter Mondale, a former U.S. senator and vice president, was opposed to RCV. 

          “Voting in America should be plain and simple. Ranked-choice voting is neither. It is confusing and complex. Ranked-choice voting will not bring us more democracy. It favors elites who know                       how to work the new and complex system.” ²

Massachusetts  

          Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito put out a statement to voters before Massachusetts defeated RCV statewide in 2020.  

          “At a time when we need to be promoting turnout and making it easier for voters to cast their ballots, we worry that question two will add an additional layer of complication for both voters                        and election officials, while potentially delaying results and increasing the cost of elections." ³