For Immediate Release: January 13, 2009

FairVote Minnesota Comments on Instant Runoff Decision

MINNEAPOLIS – Jeanne Massey, executive director of FairVote Minnesota, strongly praised today’s rejection of a challenge to Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) in the City of Minneapolis:

“Today, Minnesota took a giant step toward better elections and a stronger democracy,” Massey said. “Judge McGunnigle unambiguously rejected the plaintiffs’ arguments that IRV does not comply with the Minnesota Constitution or state elections laws and found ample grounds to support Minneapolis’ use of IRV for its municipal elections. This decision clears a major hurdle to implementation in Minneapolis and also moves IRV forward in Saint Paul, where the City Council voted to uphold a citizen’s petition to place IRV on the ballot upon resolution of the law suit in Minneapolis”.

In his ruling, Hennepin County District Judge McGunnigle wrote, “The City of Minneapolis has an important interest in respecting the democratic process, and the citizens of Minneapolis democratically voted for IRV by referendum” and concluded that the plaintiffs “have failed to demonstrate that IRV is either unconstitutional or contrary to public policy”.

Today’s decision is consistent with the outcomes of similar cases in other states, most notably Johnson v City of New York (1937) Moore v Election Commissioners of Cambridge (1941) and Stephenson v Ann Arbor Bd. of Canvassers (1975). In each case, IRV was upheld under the state constitution and/or election laws.

FairVote Minnesota attorney James Dorsey commended the scope of Judge McGunnigle’s decision: “The plaintiffs argued everything from denial of equal protection and infringement of the right of association under both the federal and the state constitutions to claims of failure to comply with arcane requirements of the state's municipal election laws,” said Dorsey. “In his 29-page memorandum, Judge McGunnigle addressed each of the plaintiffs' claims and time and again he concluded that no case law exists to support the plaintiffs' claims. Judge McGunnigle's memorandum and order could serve as useful resource for anyone teaching a class on election law and recent court decisions on the right to vote.”

In 2006, Minneapolis voters approved the use of IRV by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, 65 percent to 35 percent. The case, Minnesota Voters Alliance v City of Minneapolis (27-cv-08-15), was filed in December 2007 to challenge implementation of the voting method. FairVote Minnesota, a non-partisan advocacy group, intervened in the case to join Minneapolis as a co-defendant. James Dorsey of the Fredrikson & Byron law firm and Keith Halleland of the Halleland, Lewis, Nilan and Johnson law firm served as lead co-counsel in the case.

IRV is a tested, accepted and implementable system by which voters rank candidates in order of preference (1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice, etc.), ensuring majority winners in single-winner races where there are more than two candidates on the ballot. Under IRV, voters cast their vote for their favorite candidate knowing that if he or she doesn’t gather enough votes to be one of the top two finishers, their votes will count toward their second choice. Votes cast for less popular candidates are redistributed to more popular candidates, based on the voters' second choices, until one candidate emerges with a majority of votes. In multi-winner elections, like the Minneapolis Park Board, ranked choice voting ensures that all voters win their fair share of representation.

IRV is already in use in more than a half a dozen jurisdictions around the United States and nearly a dozen other cities are slated to use IRV in the near future. IRV has been in long-term use in foreign democracies such as Ireland and Australia.

FairVote Minnesota was founded in 1996 to work for better democracy through public education and advocating progressive voting systems that lead to greater competitiveness, better representation and more participation.

NOTE TO EDITORS AND PRODUCERS: FairVote Minnesota representatives below are available to Twin Cities news organizations to additional perspective on today’s decision and other issues related to IRV. Click here for more background on IRV. Click here for a copy of the Court decision.

James Dorsey, attorney, Fredrikson & Byron. 612-492-7079

Jeanne Massey, executive director, FairVote Minnesota. 763-807-2550

Dakotah Johnson, coordinator, Better Ballot Campaign, FairVote Minnesota. 715-379-2541

Amy Brendmoen. St. Paul Better Ballot Campaign. 651-492-8488

David Durenberger, chair, National Institute of Health Policy, ddurenberger@stthomas.edu

Prof. David Schultz, Hamline University. 651-523-2858

Jay Benanav, attorney, Weinblatt & Gaylord. (651) 292-8770

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