Comments on: Candidates, like city, slow to grasp instant-runoff voting

By: Colin

Colin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:54:48 +0000

Thanks Charles, you beat me to the bunch. Diebold doesn’t exist anymore in its previous form, as the old company with hideously bad computer security problems. I do believe that we need audited, open source competitors to ES&S hardware and firmware in order to improve election security, but this is completely unrelated to the issue of IRV.

I believe IRV will improve the Minneapolis elections process, but we do need to find good machines.

By: James Eckard

James Eckard — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:50:30 +0000

Found it. You can see sample ballots, videos on how to correctly fill out a ballot and more.
http://www.voteminneapolis.org/

By: James Eckard

James Eckard — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:43:30 +0000

You can find lots of good info about RCV on the City of Minnesapolis Website here:
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/elections/elections-works.asp

While Diebold may have a bad rap in other states, what we use here in at least Minneapolis has a great record. They get tested every year, have a well documented paper trail, not to mention a great bunch of Election Judges like myself we work hard to keep things fair and transparent. I’m sure RCV will start out on a rocky foot, but once we (the public get used to it) it will work better then the old way. BTW, during my training, it was mentioned that all Ballets will be on a website to preview before the election. I could not find it right now but I’ll check and post more info about it when I find it.

By: Charles

Charles — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:59:21 +0000

Just to make RickDFL more worried… Diebold sold its voting machine subsidiary, Premier Election Solutions, to ES&S in September. (I think the current machines that we use in Minnesota are from ES&S- from the Senate recount we know they are pretty darn accurate).

By: ROGER CHAMBERLAIN

ROGER CHAMBERLAIN — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:15:17 +0000

This is truly amazing. Our societal regression continues. This will be fun to watch.

By: Susan Woehrle

Susan Woehrle — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:09:37 +0000

Yes, it is indeed difficult to track door-to-door conversations, but one need have looked no farther than the MN Indepedent to find the story about Laura Jean, Andy Exely and Mike Tupper teaming up to use RCV to their advantage. I am disappointed, Chris Stellar, that you don’t read your own online newspaper.

By: RickDFL

RickDFL — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:16:21 +0000

“Diebold, ES&S and the rest will step up when there is money to be made.”
Thanks for selling our democracy to the highest bidder. Given Diebold’s notorius problems with accuracy and transparancy, this is one more reason to oppose IRV.

By: Chris Steller

Chris Steller — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:11:18 +0000

Thanks for the comments. I also got an email from Jeanne Massey, who’s quoted in the article, to clarify that she meant to describe a campaign scene that’s mixed, with some candidates taking advantage of IRV and some not, as the comments above point out. She says she’s surprised at the ones who aren’t, though some messages, such as doorknocking conversations, are hard to track.

By: Susan Woehrle

Susan Woehrle — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:48:07 +0000

Although your comment about most city council races is well taken, Ward 6 is a notable exception which deserves your attention, as well as that of your readers. Laura Jean, Andy Exley, and Mike Tupper have teamed up to oust Robert Lilligren by telling people to vote for her first and one of the others second and third. As Laura Jean’s campaign manager, I have seen how effective this strategy is for mobilizing voters. Several news outlets have already covered this story, including MPR and KSTP so I really don’t understand how you managed to miss it.

By: David Schroth

David Schroth — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:37:03 +0000

Well, some candidates seemed to grasp Ranked Choice Voting pretty quickly – at least according to the following story: http://minnesotaindependent.com/44761/ward-six-south-minneapolis-contest-draws-crowded-field-of-contenders