It’s omnibus season in the Minnesota Legislature so you know what that means… lots of provisions and smaller bills are getting quietly dropped into big omnibus bills where suddenly an Elections Omnibus bill turns into a Christmas tree full of provisions and policy items that, in some cases, the public knows little about.
That’s happening in St. Paul with the Election Omnibus where the Democrat majority is pushing Ranked Choice Voting. At the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota, we’ve been vocal about the failures of RCV. (Check out our in-depth report here).
“RCV is indeed a solution in search of a problem and must be rejected when it presents itself in your state,” said Annette Meeks, Freedom Foundation of Minnesota CEO. “Our republic deserves no less than our willingness to educate voters about this radical scheme and to resist efforts to further implement Ranked Choice Voting.”
Recently, the Humphrey Institute conducted a study on Ranked Choice Voting and like our study and others that preceded them, the result is damning.
“We have carefully reviewed the track record of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) and it fails to support four of the advocate’s promises for improvements over today’s system,” said Larry Jacobs, professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
Some of the topline findings of the Humphrey Institute’s research report:
- Claim: RCV reduces today’s polarization of the political parties. Fact check: FALSE
- Claim: RCV increases the diversity of elected government officials. Fact check: FALSE
- Claim: RCV increases voter turnout and engagement of voters of color. Fact check: FALSE
- Claim: RCV decreases negative campaigning. Fact check: FALSE
Even Democrat Secretary Steve Simon has concerns with Ranked Choice Voting. “Minnesota is not yet ready for statewide ranked-choice voting,” Simon said, calling it an “extraordinarily complicated thing to do.”
