Instant runoff voting supporters' next stop: Duluth

Supporters of instant runoff voting hope to bring the alternative voting system to Duluth next.

Minneapolis held its first instant runoff election yesterday, which saw low turnout but no major problems. St. Paul voters approved using IRV for city elections starting in 2011.

Fair Vote Minnesota executive director Jeanne Massey says her group wants to put an IRV referendum on the ballot in Duluth as soon as next year.

"There has been a strong organizing committee working very hard for the better part of a year or more and they thought maybe they might even put it on the ballot this year," Massey said. "But they wanted to see how the process would go in Minneapolis and St. Paul and then figure out what that would mean for Duluth."

Instant runoff lets voters rank the candidates for each office on the ballot in order of preference.

IRV opponents are taking their fight to court. They accuse Fair Vote of deceptive campaign practices in St. Paul and hope the Minnesota Supreme Court will reverse its finding earlier this year that IRV is constitutional.

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