Hopkins forms Alternative Voting Methods Task Force

"Be it resolved that the Hopkins City Council recommends that the Minnesota HAVA state plan committee require any new voting equipment, purchased with Federal funds, have the ability to handle ranked ballot voting....be it also resolved that should the City of Hopkins expend funds on voting equipment in the future, at the time of the expenditure is shall be determined if it is feasible to upgrade the voting equipment to allow for ranked ballot voting."

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From the article:
"Some election reform advocates are starting locally by proposing that Minnesota cities act under their home rule powers and adopt Single Transferable Vote (STV) as their voting method. But some have asserted that cities are not free to conduct such an experiment, arguing either that the Legislature must specifically authorize such a system, or that a 1915 Minnesota Supreme Court case has held the method unconstitutional.

At its biennial national convention on July 5, 2002, the nation's third largest political party voted to amend its platform to support Instant Runoff Voting in single-winner elections and proportional representation for legislative elections. The text of that amendment is as follows.

By STEVEN HILL Routledge Press JUNE 2002 ISBN: 0-415-93193-2

http://www.FixingElections.com

Here's what Lani Guinier and William Greider have to say about "FixingElections":

In the wake of a recent campaign dirty trick by DFLer SamGarst to help the candidacy of BillLuther, the Star Tribune (July 19, 2002) said in its lead editorial that "theproblem cries out for Minnesota's adoption of an instant-run-off electionprocedure." The editorial continued that the "third party phenomenon hasmoved Minnesota into uncharted political water

Compatible
technology is prerequisite to reform progress

The need for better voting
methods has been thoroughly stated in the educational work of FairVote
Minnesota.  What is becoming
more fully understood is the importance of getting voting machine technology
in place that can process and count ballots cast using alternatives to
First-Past-The-Post plurality elections.  Fortunately,
this is a time of opportunity for election reformers to work with their
state and local governments to obtain this technology.