By BOB VON STERNBERG, Star Tribune
Last update: November 3, 2009
On a light-turnout, local Election Day, the brave new voting method in Minneapolis appears to be running smoothly.
All day, lines of voters were short, according to reports from polling places.
The ballot itself may be the most interesting aspect of this election across Minnesota, with Minneapolis voters giving a test drive to ranked-choice voting, informally known as instant runoff voting.
"Most of our voters were very well-informed and understood ranked-choice voting," said Richard Hollenzer, an election judge at Bancroft Elementary School in south Minneapolis "Most people knew exactly what they were doing."
Among the first 90 voters at the precinct was Paula Keller, a freelance photographer who said simply, "I didn't have a problem with it."
Another, 25-year Minneapolis resident Brad Berquist, said he "thought it might be more complicated than it was, but it went very smoothly."
The races with the highest profiles -- for mayor of Minneapolis and St. Paul -- have some of the least drama, since the incumbents in both cities are heavily favored to win another term.
Elsewhere across Minnesota, city council and school board races predominate on the ballot, along with bond issues and referendums.
Officials in Minneapolis were braced for confusion on the part of voters unfamiliar with a system that allows them to rank their preferences among candidates, a procedure that eliminated the city's primary election.
But through early afternoon, voting was essentially trouble-free, said city elections director Pat O'Connor.
"It's been pretty good, with not a whole lot of problems," he said. "The problems have been the kind of little picayune things that always pop up."
The extremely low turnout provided O'Connor with his biggest disappointment of the day.
"It's been very low and that's kind of disappointing," he said. "I guess I was hoping more people would want to come out and try [the new voting method. We sent word to every single household in the city."
Voters across the city said the new procedure seemed to go smoothly, with elections officials carefully walking each voter individually through how to cast multiple votes.
O'Connor said workers in the precincts -- their numbers augmented to help explain the new voting method -- trained extensively on "how to help people through the process."
At King Park, another south Minneapolis precinct, an elections judge reported that among the first 50 voters this morning, only two made errors on their ballots. In one case, the voter discovered her mistake; the tabulating machine found the other. Both voters got new ballots and fixed their errors.
Voters at the precinct seemed to like the new voting method but they admitted that they were hard-put to use all three rankings they were allowed.
"I never got to a third choice," said voter Dale Wiehoff. "I didn't know the candidates that well."
"I actually sort of like it," he said of his experience with ranked-choice voting. "I came in sort of skeptical."
Eunice Randolph, a park worker who has also served as a past election judge, said the election this year is low-key even by the low-turnout standards of city elections. "You can practically read a book in the off years," she said.
Across the river, officials in St. Paul also will be keeping a close eye on how well it goes in Minneapolis, because if voters approve, the capital city will be adopting the same voting procedure.
One early election-related glitch: Because of an unspecified snafu at the U.S. Postal Service, tens of thousands of sample ballots prepared by the Minneapolis DFL never got delivered.
"They were supposed to be delivered on Friday and when they weren't, we called the post office on Saturday," said Tim Bonham, the party's treasurer. "They went looking but said they couldn't find them. Some are supposed to be delivered today, but that's kind of late."
Party officials are concerned that the lack of sample ballots could hurt their candidates if voters are confused by the new ballot setup, "but nobody really knows what'll happen," he said.
Lacking drama and highly competitive races, Minnesotans who are political junkies will have to turn their attention elsewhere. Gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia and a special congressional election in upstate New York are being billed as referendums on the performance of President Obama.
Check back throughout the day for updates on how the election is unfolding. Full information on candidates and voting procedures is available here. And the Star Tribune's Whistleblower is keeping an eye on Election Day here.
Staff writers Emily Johns and Steve Brandt contributed to this report.
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