City Council Sets Ranked Choice Voting Ballot Question

Question to Parallel Wording on Fair Vote MN Petition, Clarifiers Added

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What’s been a busy week for the Duluth City Council, wrapped up Friday with a special meeting held to discuss the future of Ranked Choice Voting in the city of Duluth.

The council was working to meet a deadline of August 21.

A year ago the Duluth City Council voted down Ranked Choice Voting.

Friday’s discussion wasn’t about the merits or non–merits of the matter.

Instead, this decision involved the language used to present the question to voters on the ballot come November.

“As I said on Monday, this is the most important issue that, I think, this council will be voting on this year,” said Zack Filipovich.

After receiving more than 1,600 signatures on a petition, a Minneapolis-based organization called Fair Vote Minnesota, has once again brought up the issue of Ranked Choice Voting in Duluth.

“We have a group that jumped through all the hoops, and got citizens to sign a petition, and now they have a right to put it on the ballot,” said Duluth City Councilor At-Large Linda Krug.

It’s an issue that has the city council divided, with some councilors believing it’s a system that makes a person’s vote count more.

“If we vote for the candidate who happens to be the last choice, they get dropped, but who we voted for second and third, those votes still count and they get redistributed,” Krug explained.

But others are concerned the wording used could be misleading to voters.

“I want to make sure that when people vote in November, that they realize they’re not voting for one voting system, they’re voting for two different voting systems,” expressed Duluth City Councilor Joel Sipress.

Friday, compromise was reached as the council voted for the ballot question to use language that parallels words used on the petition signed by the residents.

“I wanted to be respectful of the people who signed the petition, and put on the ballot language that reflects the petition,” Sipress explained.

They agreed to add clarifiers explaining exactly what a “yes” vote and a “no” vote would mean.

“It’s absolutely vital that between now and November that we, as a community, really educate ourselves about Ranked Choice Voting,” Sipress stated.

And all councilors agree that now it’s up to the people off the city to educate themselves about what exactly Ranked Choice Voting is and how it works, in order to make an educated decision upon submitting a ballot.

If voters do decide to change the election format to Ranked Choice Voting in November, the change would go into effect the next municipal election.