For Immediate Release

November 6, 2014
Contact: Jeanne Massey, Executive Director of FairVote Minnesota
jeanne.massey@fairvotemn.org
763-807-2550
Election Trauma: We Can, We Must, Do Betterand RCV is Key
MINNEAPOLISThank goodness THATS over.
In bitter contrast to last years positive, substantive, Ranked Choice Voting
municipal election in Minneapolisa textbook example of what civic engagement
can and should bethis years election cycle has been brutal.
These past few months weve endured the worst politics has to offer: outrageously
negative campaigning, ideological polarization, arguments about third-party
spoilers and wasted votes. Not to mention the voter disinterest and cynicism
this all engenders.
Our political system fails to enlighten voters on candidate positions, instead
promoting ad hominem attacks and suppressing voter interest and turnout,
especially in midterm elections. As political analyst Wy Spano wrote in an Oct.
31 Duluth News Tribune op-ed, the wedge issues, the nasty ads, the
scaremongering, it has become so routine we accept it as an immutable fact of life.
After Election Day, what are we left with? Continued disengagement and
disillusionment with a system that leaves most voters feeling disempowered. The
polarization feeds on itself and we end up with government thats hopelessly
dysfunctional and divided.
Several very tight legislative races in Minnesota and the close plurality outcome
in the Secretary of State race illustrate our divided government, and if history is
any guide, theyll likely set the stage for more partisan gridlock. The same
prediction can be made nationally, with several bitterly divided Congressional and
Senate races (including Minnesotas 8th District and Louisianas Senate runoff)
and thin plurality victories in gubernatorial races across the country.

Election Day exit polls showed that voters are fed up with the rancor; they want
more options and fresh perspectives. Sadly, for those who long for the diversity of
viewpoints and ideas that third parties can bring, the news is bleak too: the
Independence Party lost major-party status, and the Green Party failed to secure it.
Its depressing, but there is room for hope: Ranked Choice Voting offers a better
way. Look to Oakland, California, whose RCV mayoral race echoed the 2013 race
in Minneapolis: Consensus winner and Mayor-elect Libby Schaaf wrapped up her
positive, issue-based campaign by telling voters, I can't wait to run Oakland the
way that we ran this campaign. And candidates won various other RCV elections
with consensus-building campaigns in Oakland, San Leandro, San Francisco and
more.
In Maine, the flipside of yet another divisive plurality outcome is an electorate
newly galvanized to implement statewide RCV. A bi-partisan team of legislators is
kicking off a petition drive to do just that, and will find plenty of support for the
kind of structural reform statewide that yields campaigns, outcomes and
governance more reflective of the broad population.
And here in Minnesota, legislative leader Steve Simon, who authored a bill that
would give local communities the freedom and flexibility to use RCV if they wish,
was elected Secretary of State. Were hopeful that when that bill comes back
before the Legislature next session, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will agree
its time for constructive, meaningful change.
As the Star Tribune noted in an editorial Wednesday, were struck by the vast
difference in the tone and substance of campaign messages this year compared
with the more temperate Minneapolis mayoral contest in 2013. . . . Ranked-choice
voting presents candidates with a disincentive to dish out offensive personal
attacks. When candidates depend on second- and third-choice votes to win,
attacking opponents can cost them the race.
Democracy is an ideal and theres no perfect way to achieve it, but we can do so
much better. FairVote Minnesota is leading the charge to expand Ranked Choice
Voting in Minnesota, and we welcome your interest and coverage as this reform
moves forward. Please dont hesitate to contact with us questions about RCV and
its capacity to transform democracy for the betterin Minnesota and beyond.