For Immediate Release: Voting Reform Halted By Unelected Resident Group

For Immediate Release

Contact: David Haeg, RCV for Minnetonka, david.haeg@rcvminnetonka.org, 612.615.9992

Voting Reform Halted By Unelected Resident Group 

Minnetonka (July 23, 2020) -- The Minnetonka Charter Commission, a group of unelected city volunteers, is using a procedural loophole to circumvent the City Council and voters.

Residents of Minnetonka have been organizing to adopt Ranked Choice Voting (“RCV”) for their City Council elections for over 2 years. These elections, held during odd-years, are notoriously uncompetitive and have a voter turnout that is extremely low (4% in primary elections, 14% in general elections, on average) and unrepresentative of the city’s population. Residents organized to mitigate these problems through RCV.

The City Council agreed that the voters should decide whether to adopt RCV for local elections, and that November 2020 would be the best way to get the most input from residents. In June, the Council voted unanimously to begin the process of adding a ballot question, and gave the Charter Commission 60 days to review the draft charter amendment - 2 paragraphs of text.

Throughout the 60 day period, it became clear that the Charter Commission did not support using RCV, but they could only provide a non-binding recommendation to the City Council. At the July 13th City Council meeting, it was revealed that the official survey conducted by the City of Minnetonka showed that residents favored using RCV in the future by a 3-to-1 margin.

Rather than recognizing support for RCV among city residents, Charter Commission members are instead imposing their own anti-RCV views and seeking a 90-day extension - thereby preventing the City Council and voters from deciding the issue. Following several previous information sessions by the City Council, the Charter Commission engaged in an exhaustive two-month study about the amendment and RCV, and any delay is unnecessary and would prevent RCV from being placed on the ballot this November. 

Barb Westmoreland, one of the main volunteer organizers of the group, was shocked. “The City Council was following all the steps to let voters make the decision. The survey conducted by the city showed overwhelming support for this issue. It seems highly undemocratic that a small group of unelected officials would disregard the will of the City Council and the voters.”

David Haeg, another organizer, said “We all know what’s going on here. The Charter Commission saw the city survey results and realized the voters would approve RCV, so they’re using this loophole to delay the process and keep it off the ballot. It’s exactly this kind of political tactic that disgusts voters and undermines faith in government.”

An unelected and unrepresentative group of appointed commissioners should not be taking away the power of the City Council to put RCV to the voters. Nor should they be preventing Minnetonka voters from deciding this issue -- especially for the November election when turnout will be highest and most representative of the city. We are calling on the Charter Commission, Mayor and City Council to give Minnetonka voters the  opportunity to decide how they can vote this November.