Comments on: In instant-runoff ‘practice’ vote for guv, ranking choices didn’t affect who won

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:18:04 +0000

I want to know how Sen. John Marty’s pulling 12 percent is a “strong showing” while Rep. Paul Thissen’s 10% is somehow negligible. Democrats need to nominate a candidate who is capable of not only winning in November but is also capable of leading this state after his/her inauguration. Rep. Thissen is the candidate with the state wide grassroots support (he reportedly has been to more counties this year than any other candidate in the race) and the vision to actually lead our state.

By: Michele

Michele — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:49:56 +0000

As a public health nurse, I feel obligated to back the candidate that believes that health care is a basic human right and should therefore be provided to all members of society. That candidate is JOHN MARTY!

By: Maggie T

Maggie T — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:21:09 +0000

I heard voters were turned away from the polls at Tiger Sushi and that ballots were just sitting out for anyone to take as many as they wanted at another location. We should beware of anyone putting stock in the results.

By: Stephanie Hill

Stephanie Hill — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:47:24 +0000

By all means, let’s run John Marty again. It worked so well in 1994. Then we can stop blaming the Independence Party for the DFL losing elections and recognize that it is our own fault that we pick losers.

By: Joel Clemmer

Joel Clemmer — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:14:13 +0000

The big news of the straw poll is actually the strong showing by Senator John Marty. An increasing number of voters are coming to realize that only ONE candidate refuses to take lobbyist and PAC money and is thus in a position to propose solutions that actually help people. The best example is Senator Marty’s Minnesota Health Plan, which would provide care to 100% of Minnesotans.

By: Kelly O'Brien

Kelly O'Brien — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:25:59 +0000

Chris Teleca, what interest would the DFL have in “fudging” the percentages? The results can be found at http://www.majorityrulesmpls.org.

By: Eric Ferguson

Eric Ferguson — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:44:45 +0000

Something widely misunderstood is that the purpose wasn’t to get an accurate reflection of opinion on the governor race, or to show that RCV would produce a different result. It was to show people who will be voting in Minneapolis’ local elections and people in cities thinking about RCV how it works. We used the governor race because we thought it would be an interesting way to practice and would draw some attention, which it did. But understand that the important thing is the voters were able to follow instructions and fill out their ballots correctly.

By: Chris Telesca

Chris Telesca — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:19:30 +0000

There is no surprise here – IRV pretty much gives the race to the plurality winner in all but a small number of actual elections.

I don’t buy these percentages. Is Keliher’s 55% figure taken from the total number of ballots cast? How many rounds took place, what was the number of exhausted ballots per round, etc.?

I’ve seen IRV supporters fudge the percentages depending on what they were using for the denominator. Some use the same denominator in all the rounds, but many change them from round to round. One tasting contest had no change in the number of votes won by “bundt cake” from round 3 to 4. There was no winner in round 3, but bundt cake won in round 4 because 5 people decided not to rank any further deserts.

By: Finally Marty Time

Finally Marty Time — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:18:42 +0000

Another strong showing for Senator John Marty!! He’s exactly what we need, and people are catching on to that. It’s finally going to be Marty Time in MN!!!