As we approach the end of session, we want to give you the latest update on Ranked Choice Voting legislation. While we are pleased to see Minnesota make great strides for democracy in expanding and improving access to the vote, there remains a pressing need to take concrete action on reforms, like Ranked Choice Voting, that will protect and strengthen our democracy by addressing the divisions and extremism that threaten it.

The elections omnibus bill contains an important step forward for Ranked Choice Voting. It sets up a study led by the Secretary of State, and in consultation with election administrators and other stakeholders and experts, to examine how best to implement and expand RCV in Minnesota for both local and state elections. It is thanks to you and your activism in support of RCV that made this possible. THANK YOU.

We are pleased to see this provision in the conference committee report and final bill, and it is a promising first step to expand RCV in Minnesota. However, it is far-short of the assurances made by many pro-democracy legislators, whose majority was made possible, in part, by the door knocking and phone banking of FairVote Minnesota grassroots volunteers.

So while we are pleased to see an effort to study how best to expand RCV in our state, we are disappointed and frustrated that the final bill did not include a local option allowing more local jurisdictions the authority to adopt RCV if they wish and a more concrete step towards expanding RCV across Minnesota. The RCV local option promotes local control and makes local elections more inclusive, representative and cost-effective. It has long been supported by the Secretary of State, the League of Minnesota Cities and the Association of Minnesota Counties and requested by numerous local jurisdictions that would like to use RCV and experience its many benefits. The local option would have benefited many communities, including in Greater Minnesota, and it is perplexing and beyond disappointing that the legislature omitted this promising, extremely popular local control measure out of the final bill.

And perhaps more importantly, the challenges of our current political system –– increasing polarization and extremism –– have not gone away; indeed, they may have only gotten worse. Republicans and Democrats in Congress can’t even come together to address the most basic of government tasks, paying its bills, and while the Minnesota legislature accomplished so much this session, there were few bills that passed on a broadly bipartisan basis.

We need to fundamentally change the incentives in our system to reward candidates and policymakers who work towards solutions that benefit the majority, and the best way to do that is Ranked Choice Voting.

We will continue to press our legislators and state leaders to take action on RCV, and that campaign begins now.

First, contact Chief authors Sen. Kelly Morrison and Rep. Cedrick Frazier and thank them for their leadership in authoring our bills and working so hard to advance RCV legislation this session.
Second, contact your legislators to thank our supporters who helped us get this far while also expressing your disappointment that the RCV Local Option was not included in the final bill –– and urging its passage next session.