The 2023 municipal elections in Minnesota once again demonstrated the success of ranked choice voting (RCV). This fall, Bloomington, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, St. Louis Park, and St. Paul all used ranked choice voting for their municipal elections and were among 21 cities in seven states using ranked choice voting across the country. As you know, Minnetonka voters also considered a City Charter amendment to repeal ranked choice voting (RCV), and conclusively rejected that repeal, voting to save RCV by a margin of 59 percent to 41 percent.
Voters were able to express their preferences across multiple candidates, voter turnout increased overall compared to similar elections prior to implementing RCV, the cities saved the cost of holding a city primary where only a small percentage of voters participated, and RCV continued to demonstrate its ability to accelerate diverse representation in elected office. For more detail and analysis, see our 2023 Ranked Choice Voting Elections in Minnesota Memorandum.
For all of you who donated and all of you who gave your time to educate voters, knock doors, and phone bank, thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We have such thriving local democracies in the RCV cities, and so much of that would not be possible without all of you.
Given the continued success of RCV at the local level, more and more communities want the opportunity to consider it for their local democracies, and we hope that opportunity is right around the corner. Our work to pass the RCV Local Options bill is already underway as we prepare for the 2024 session that opens on Monday, February 12, 2024. We will be in touch to give you the inside scoop on this legislation as well as opportunities to help push the local options bill forward.
Safe travels to all of you who are visiting family and friends and Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!
Sincerely,
Your FairVote Minnesota Team
