Council Member: Elections committee “sitting on their heels” on instant run-off

By Dan Haugen
Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 12:22 pm

Minneapolis City Council Member Cam Gordon prodded his peers a bit during today’s meeting about the city’s slow-moving progress preparing for instant run-off elections. Minneapolis voters passed a ballot amendment in 2006 ordering the city to switch to instant run-off, or ranked choice, elections beginning next year.

“I think there is a pretty big time crunch here,” Gordon told the city’s elections director, Cindy Reichert, before asking whether her office needed direction from the committee. Council Member Elizabeth Glidden jumped in to say it wasn’t correct if Gordon meant to imply Reichert wasn’t doing her job. Gordon replied:

“I apologize if I implied anybody is sitting on their heels besides the Council.”

With the 2009 city elections 20 months away, Reichert estimated the city is still 25 to 60 months away from having an instant run-off voting system ready to go. So, what happens if it’s not ready? A vague clause in the law lets the City Council vote to postpone if they decide it’s not possible to implement in 2009.

The Elections Committee adjourned until next Friday, March 7, when it will continue the discussion about its next step.

Earlier:
Is Minneapolis still on track for ranked voting in 2009? (Thu Feb 28, 2008 at 8:22:43 AM)