Last night, in a resounding 7-0 vote, the Bloomington City council unanimously rejected a petition to repeal Ranked Choice Voting, accepting the advice of both the city attorney and the Attorney General’s office that the petition was unconstitutional and contrary to state law.

In addition to attempting to repeal RCV, the petition prohibited any future use of RCV unless approved by two-thirds of the voters, a higher voting threshold, according to the city attorney and the Attorney General’s office, than the simple majority set by state law.

Accordingly, the City Council passed a resolution rejecting the petition “as manifestly unconstitutional” and inconsistent with state law, and found that the petition’s ballot measure repealing RCV “cannot be placed on the November 2022 general election ballot.”

We are grateful to the Mayor and City Council for rejecting this clearly unconstitutional and anti-democratic measure that would have required a super majority to pass RCV in the future.

Thank you to everyone who helped us push back and support ranked-choice elections, and special thanks to Laura Calbone, Marcia Wattson and all of the amazing volunteers who have been leading on democracy reform in Bloomington.

Please take a moment to thank the City Council for their decision. Email them at [email protected]

We know RCV is a more democratic way to vote and gives more power to the voter, and that’s exactly why this extreme minority was attempting to reverse these wins. With your support, we won’t allow that to happen.

Sincerely,

Jeanne Massey