Hi Neighbors,
The news this week confirms one thing for certain – our electoral process is broken. Nearly 50,000 early voters in Minnesota cast primary ballots for candidates who had dropped out of the race by Super Tuesday (effectively nullifying their votes), and our winner-takes-all system has devolved into a series of cut-throat contests that polarize candidates and discourage consensus-building.
Fortunately, there’s a solution. Rebuilding our democracy and restoring faith in government begins with improving our electoral system, and that’s why I’m igniting a conversation about Ranked Choice Voting (RCV).
How does RCV work? Like in the sample question above, voters rank their choices rather than choosing a single candidate. If no candidate earns a majority of first choice votes, the last-place candidate is eliminated. In a second count, voters who chose the eliminated candidate will be counted for their second choice – and the process repeats until one candidate earns a majority. Furthermore, RCV eliminates unintended disenfranchisement of early voters, like we saw this week in Minnesota, by counting the voter’s second choice if their first choice candidate drops out before Election Day.
RCV is simple, empowers voters, and rewards candidates who broaden support beyond their base, which is why I introduced H.R. 6010, the Voter Choice Act, in Washington this week. The bill would provide assistance to state and local governments that are choosing to implement this increasingly popular reform – including right here in Minnesota.
When it comes to elections, Minnesota has an outstanding tradition of good governance, fairness, and innovation. When we see that our political structures aren’t working, we change them. Minnesotans of all political stripes are lining up to support a transition to RCV. I joined a bipartisan group of Minnesota leaders in calling for a transition towards RCV in a Star Tribune opinion piece last month. RCV is thriving in Minneapolis and St. Paul, was used in St. Louis Park for the first time last year, and Minnetonka and Bloomington are eyeing a transition to RCV in 2020.
As your representative in Congress, I’m on a mission to identify solutions, like RCV, that repair our broken politics, clean up the culture of corruption in Washington, and return power to the people where it rightfully belongs – and I’ll need your help. Representation begins with listening, so I invite you to join me for a free and open-to-the-public town hall meeting this Sunday, March 8th at 2:00 PM at Wayzata High School. If you can’t make it on Sunday, we’ll stream the entire event on Facebook, and you are always welcome to share your ideas, perspectives, and feedback by phone, email, or in-person at my Minnetonka office.
Keep the faith and keep in touch,
Dean Phillips
Member of Congress