Update: February 20, 2008

In November 2006, 65% of Minneapolis voters voted to adopt Instant Runoff Voting (also known as ranked choice voting) for municipal elections. The resulting Charter Amendment requires the use of the new voting method for the next municipal election in November 2009 unless the City Council determines implementation is not feasible by then.

The City of Minneapolis has been working under the auspices of the Minnesota Secretary of State’s statewide Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) Issues Group since June, 2007, to develop rules and procedures for RCV elections and to review equipment options for implementation in Minneapolis.

The RCV Issues Group completed its work at the end of January (2008) and has recommended legislation that, if passed, would establish standard rules and procedures for RCV elections statewide. It has also prepared a report of various voting equipment options and related opportunities and challenges for RCV implementation. Click here to see final reports.

Several potentially viable equipment options are available for possible use in the 2009 Minneapolis elections, but each requires some level of system development and/or certification prior to acquisition, creating a narrow window of opportunity to get a certified system in place in time for use in November, 2009. The different equipment options and challenges are described in further detail below.

What can the City of Minneapolis do to advance 2009 implementation?

To meet the 2009 implementation timeline, the City of Minneapolis must move forward to develop and execute a work plan towards this goal. FairVote Minnesota sent a letter to the Minneapolis City Council on January 8th to urge them to take this action.

Specifically, the City of Minneapolis can take the following steps to advance 2009 RCV implementation:

1) Issue a Request for Proposal as soon as possible for voting equipment to begin the formal process of review and acquisition. Any further delay in the issuance of the RFP will continue to narrow the opportunity for implementation in 2009.

2) Adopt RCV election rules and procedures by ordinance. While RCV rules have been introduced in the legislature that would establish statewide RCV standards, there is not a guarantee that these will be adopted this year and the City can alternatively adopt these or similar rules by ordinance. If and when statewide standards exist, the City could elect to adopt these rules.

3) Partner with the philanthropic community to fund the purchase of new machines, should this investment be the best option for Minneapolis. The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, a supporter of instant runoff voting, has offered to facilitate this opportunity.

4) Work with Secretary of State Mark Ritchie to address certification issues and with Hennepin County to address any issues relating to the equipment lease contract.

These action steps are necessary if the City is to meet the required 2009 implementation timeline. If this goal is not met, the City Council must pass an ordinance to delay implementation and tell voters why implementation is impossible. It should communicate what the City’s plan is to be ready to use RCV in a special election year that might occur subsequent to 2009 and in the next scheduled municipal election in 2013.

How can the Secretary of State help?

The Secretary of State Mark Ritchie's office can continue to support the implementation process in Minneapolis. It can be particularly helpful in facilitating the certification of RCV-capable equipment, including:

1) Working with the City of Minneapolis to address certification issues.

2) Developing administrative rules for state certification and experimental certification procedures in a timely manner to enable a certified system for use in the 2009 Minneapolis elections.

3) Advocating for changes in the federal certification process and requirements to reduce the cost and timetable for certification.

How can the Legislature help?

The Minnesota Legislature can bolster the first-time implementation of ranked choice voting in Minnesota by adopting the proposed statewide RCV standards in the 2008 legislative session.

To honor the will of 65 percent of Minneapolis voters who voted in support of RCV in 2006, the Minneapolis City Council, Minnesota Secretary of State and the Legislature should take the necessary steps to overcome challenges to Minneapolis’ implementation of RCV in 2009.

Minneapolis can be a model for the state, paving the way for other jurisdictions to adopt and use instant runoff voting.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION

RCV Implementation Opportunities

Implementation of ranked choice voting depends on voting equipment that is capable of handling ranked ballot voting. Minneapolis leases voting equipment from Hennepin County and currently uses ES&S M100 precinct-based voting machines, which are not capable of conducting RCV elections. The machines are not due to be replaced until sometime after 2010, which means that Minneapolis must independently acquire an equipment solution for the 2009 elections.

The RCV Issues Group explored several RCV-capable equipment options:

1) Use existing equipment in combination with an RCV-capable central scan system.

This option uses existing M100 machines to provide error notification and count first choices at the precincts, allowing preliminary results of first choice rankings to be reported. The ballots are then recounted at a central tabulation center, where the ballots are scanned and tallied and the final results reported for races that require a runoff.

ES&S and TrueBallot, Inc. are two possible vendors for a supplemental scanning system. The ES&S 650 machines need to be modified and certified for RCV capability. The TrueBallot system is fully developed for RCV elections, but needs to be certified.

Both vendors demonstrated their systems in Minneapolis. Click here to see summaries of the ES&S and TrueBallot systems.

2) Purchase new RCV-capable equipment.

The three main voting equipment providers (ES&S, Premiere & Sequoia) all have RCV-capable voting equipment in development and anticipate submitting their systems for federal certification in the near future. The only vendor with RCV-capable precinct machines currently under federal testing and certification is Sequoia (due to be completed in March 2008). Two west coast jurisdictions are scheduled to use the equipment in 2008 for single-seat elections. Additional software would be needed to tabulate the multi-seat elections in Minneapolis (Park Board and Board of Estimate and Taxation).

Click here to see summaries of the ES&S DS200 and Sequoia systems.

3) Modify existing equipment to conduct RCV elections.

Existing M100 machines may be modified for RCV elections, at an estimated cost of $350,000, but there is uncertainty about the ability of the system to meet new federal certification requirements. Moreover, the vendor (ES&S) has indicated that it is not interested in retrofitting the old equipment, preferring to sell its new RCV-capable DS200 equipment.

RCV Implementation Challenges

The main challenge to 2009 implementation is equipment certification. A secondary challenge is cost, depending on the equipment solution.

Equipment Certification

None of the options above is certified, which is a requirement for use in Minnesota elections. Certification means that equipment must comply with a set of federal standards. Typically, equipment vendors submit their products to the Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) which, in turn, contracts with approved testing authorities to test the equipment to the federal standards. If the equipment meets the test, the EAC provides a certification number. Alternatively, the Secretary of State’s office can contract with an approved testing authority and certify that a system meets federal standards. It can also provide experimental certification if federal certification is not in place. Both of these procedures require the creation of administrative rules, which, according to estimates from the Secretary of State’s office, may take up to a year to put in place.

All of these certification options require time. Vendors estimate that it can take a year or longer, but Sequoia's new IRV-capable system is likely to be certified much more quickly, about 6 months.

To ensure sufficient time for product development and certification, the City must move forward expeditiously in issuing an RFP for an RCV-capable equipment system.

Equipment Cost

The equipment options range in cost. The least expensive option is the TrueBallot system, which supplements the use of existing machines at the precincts with a central scan system at the central tabulation center, as described above. The estimated cost is between $75,000 and $125,000 for the 2009 election. This is roughly half the cost of the eliminated primary election.

The cost of modifying the ES&S 650 supplemental central scan system for RCV elections, which would also supplement the use of existing machines at the precincts, is estimated to be about $450,000.

Modifying existing precinct-based ES&S M100 machines to handle ranked ballot elections may be less expensive than modifying the ES&S 650 central scanner, assuming the retrofitted M100s are certifiable. The modification cost of the M100 machines is estimated at $350,000, compared to $450,000 for the 650 central scan machine.

The aquisition of new equipment, such as the Sequoia system, is comparatively more expensive because this option would include a new voting machine at each polling location. Based on the vendor's estimate, the cost could be as high as $6,000 per machine or $840,000 for 140 machines citywide.

The city should explore the option to rent equipment or hire Sequoia to provide election services for the 2009 election. This may be a significantly less costly option.

Attachment	Size
FVM Letter to Mpls City Council.doc	3.06 MB