Instant Run-off Voting Pushed in St. Paul

Frustration over elections from the presidential to mayoral levels has brought people out to a training for instant run-off voting and how to promote it at their precinct caucuses on March 6. People expressed concern over candidates winning with less than 50 percent of the vote. Julia May, of St. Paul, said she felt that IRV “makes votes count for more.”

Gina Berglund, one of the trainers from St. Paul, said she thinks St. Paul’s reputation as a one-party town is a negative thing for the city. She said of IRV, “It’s better for the voters, and it’s better for the people who are governed.”

Sage Holben, also of St. Paul, said that some DFLers who had been involved with the party for many years seemed to feel that IRV would be like throwing their votes away and strongly object to IRV. The Better Ballot Campaign in St. Paul is pushing for the DFL to endorse instant run-off voting and is collecting signatures to encourage the St. Paul City Council to pass an ordinance to implement it.

more insideBerglund said, “IRV lessens the power of special interests, whether they are on the right or the left,” adding that Minnesota Concerned Citizens for Life fought against it and unions are not strong supporters of IRV.

Implementing IRV would require retraining people in how to vote, and Berglund said the cost to do that was estimated at 25 cents per voter per election cycle. That estimate didn’t include buying new voting machines, but Berglund said Ramsey County would be purchasing new voting machines after 2010 and,  if the city and county left the time line general enough, the new machines could be IRV-compatible. Total cost of implementing IRV is unknown and uncertain because it has been implemented in so few major cities.

Troy Trooien explains how IRV works.