Convening Civic Conversations: Minneapolis Mayoral Election

Ranked Choice Voting:

The Minneapolis election will be guided by the second use of a new elections process known as “ranked choice voting” (or “instant runoff voting”). According to this process, when the candidate with the most votes is unable to win more than 50% of voters’ first preference selections, the weakest performing candidate is dropped and the second choice of voters who initially supported this eliminated candidate are apportioned; the process continues until one candidate rises about the 50% threshold. The first experiment with ranked choice voting had little effect in Minneapolis owing to the popularity of the incumbent running for re-election; its effect in 2013 is a subject of speculation. The Center will be following the dynamics of the candidates in relation to ranked choice voting. Stay tuned for events in the fall that will illuminate the various strategies and outcomes possible with this unique and new form of voting.

Organizing Debates and the Question of Inclusion:

Organizing debates is both important and daunting because of the inescapable tradeoff between the number of candidates and the depth and breadth of the conversation – too many candidates makes it hard to move beyond superficial discussion of complex issues. This leads to the uncomfortable – if necessary – step of developing decision rules regarding whom to include. Most media use the criteria of 5% or 10% standing in polls. For our first event with the debate of leading DFL candidates, this option was not available owing to the absence to reliable public polling. Thus, the Center consulted reporters, other specialists, and its own experts in-house who observe and study Minneapolis politics to identify the candidates who are running for the DFL endorsement and enjoy the greatest opportunity to prevail at this point in the process. We settled on five prominent public figures who serve or did serve on the Minneapolis City Council or as County Commissioner. This debate will be held on March 27th. As mentioned above we will be organizing additional debates throughout the election process that will include candidates running outside of party affiliation and as more candidates emerge.

Background:

The Center for the Study of Politics and Governance has a long track record of convening conversations about timely political and policy challenges from across the political and philosophical spectrum. The Center has brought in a range of speakers from Henry Kissinger, Governor Tim Pawlenty, and National Review editor Ramesh Ponnuru to Vice President Walter Mondale, Senator Al Franken, and Congressman Keith Ellison. For a full list of our events and guest speakers please go to our Past Event Archives. Many of the Center’s programs spotlight issues and speakers who don’t fall into a partisan silo – one of the most innovative series may have been our collaboration with Public Radio’s Krista Tippett and focused on issues of faith and politics during the fall of 2012.

During election years the Center has sponsored programs focused on providing the public with informed and substantive discussion with candidates and elected officials on important matters of public policy. In these events, leading candidates and public officials have visited the Humphrey School to give talks and to join Center Director Larry Jacobs for one-on-one conversations, with audience participation.

A valuable track record has emerged: of civil conversations that are timely and inclusive, creating a unique platform for diverse perspectives – a platform to which candidates and policy thinkers across the political parties and Minnesota’s business and non-profit communities have turned.