by Madeleine Baran, Minnesota Public Radio
November 4, 2009
Minneapolis — Minneapolis elections officials started hand counting ballots Wednesday, a day after voters used instant runoff voting for the first time.
The count will determine the winner in a handful of races where no candidate received a majority of the first choice votes. Those races include two city council seats and five Park and Recreation board seats.
Elections staffers have to count all the ballots by hand, as there are no machines certified under federal or state law that can count instant runoff voting ballots.
But city officials expect the count will be finished sooner than the original Dec. 21 benchmark, due to low voter turnout.
About 46,000 Minneapolis residents voted Tuesday, representing about 21 percent of registered voters. Officials had planned for a turnout of about 70,000 voters.
Interim elections director Pat O'Connor said that although some results may be available within a few weeks, officials do not plan to rush the process.
"We would like this first count to go slowly so that people understand what ranked choice voting is all about," O'Connor said. "I think in our daily lives, we're used to computers doing the most incredibly complicated things, and we lose track of what really is happening inside that little box."
Elections officials count the instant runoff voting ballots in rounds. If no candidate has a majority of the first choice votes, then the candidate in last place is eliminated. If you voted for that candidate, your vote moves to your second choice. But if you don't have a second choice, then your vote stops counting in that race.
City council candidates in Ward Four and Ward Five fell just short of receiving a majority of votes. In Ward Four, Barbara Johnson received 46.9 percent of the vote. In Ward Five, Don Samuels leads with 47 percent.
About 250 elections staffers will count the ballots by ward, working in 125-person shifts, six days a week. O'Connor said the cost will be off-set by the savings from not having a primary.
Showing posts with label Election day 2009. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Election day 2009. Show all posts
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Minneapolis DFL/Rybak Election Night party
After taking 94 Express bus and crazy night in Downtown Minneapolis witnessing a group fight (I did called 911 and the group got arrested after several witnesses called 911 also), I arrived at the Graves 601 Hotel at Block E across from Target Center. Unlike several hotels, their ballrooms are on fifth floor and the building was very dim. When I arrived at the party, Mayor found me and I explained to him what happened, he said I did right thing so at least I made Minneapolis a safer place.
Not many people was there. I missed Mayor R.T. Rybak's Election Night speech because I was on highway riding on 94 Express. I ran into some DFL people I know, Councilman Gary Schiff (Ward 9), some people I saw at St. Paul DFL Party earlier, and Mayor Rybak & First Lady Megan O' Hara. Rybak children wasn't there, they are away at college but voted absentee.
2010 Governor candidates was in attendance: Paul Thissen, Margret Anderson Kelliher and Susan Gartner.
I also asked Jeremy Hansen who is Mayor's main man how IRV went, he said it was very slow and the result was coming in late.
Not many people was there. I missed Mayor R.T. Rybak's Election Night speech because I was on highway riding on 94 Express. I ran into some DFL people I know, Councilman Gary Schiff (Ward 9), some people I saw at St. Paul DFL Party earlier, and Mayor Rybak & First Lady Megan O' Hara. Rybak children wasn't there, they are away at college but voted absentee.
2010 Governor candidates was in attendance: Paul Thissen, Margret Anderson Kelliher and Susan Gartner.
I also asked Jeremy Hansen who is Mayor's main man how IRV went, he said it was very slow and the result was coming in late.
MPR Election Results
Minnesota Public Radio have 2009 Election results up on their website.
It list all counties, cities and school district results.
MPR Election Results 2009
It list all counties, cities and school district results.
MPR Election Results 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
ST. PAUL ELECTION NIGHT PARTY UPDATE
I am at St. Paul Hotel for Saint Paul DFL and Mayor Chris Coleman's Election Night party ataint Paul Hotel in Downtown St. Paul. People arrived around 7:30PM.
Mood are very festive among people. House Speaker Margret Anderson Kelliher and some Saint Paul School Board Members such as Ann Carroll and Elona Stewart-Street are here.
As of 8:30PM more people arrive.
I will be live-tweeting what is going on at the party. I also will have pictures posted on Twitpic as well.
MnCapitolGirl's Twitter
MnCapitolGirl's Twitpic
Mood are very festive among people. House Speaker Margret Anderson Kelliher and some Saint Paul School Board Members such as Ann Carroll and Elona Stewart-Street are here.
As of 8:30PM more people arrive.
I will be live-tweeting what is going on at the party. I also will have pictures posted on Twitpic as well.
MnCapitolGirl's Twitter
MnCapitolGirl's Twitpic
Election Day: What will ranked choice bring?
By STEVE BRANDT, Star Tribune
Last update: November 3, 2009
Minneapolis voters go to the polls today to tackle ranked-choice voting, a new method of filling municipal offices, amidst uncertainty over the effect it could have on the final results.
City election officials didn't predict a turnout figure for the city's first election without a primary to winnow the field of candidates. But while the most prominent election of the day, the mayor's race, is not considered close, city officials offered conflicting opinions about whether the new method would stimulate voting or discourage it.
Voters will be asked to rank their first-, second- and third-choice candidates for each office, but not when they are voting yes or no on a charter amendment.
Although the results should be fairly evident in lopsided races, it could be weeks before a victor is known in contests where nobody achieves the required number of votes on first choices. Then the more complicated hand sorting of second and third choices will be required to declare a winner. That's where rankings of candidates could be the most influential.
While turnout remains a big question, city officials said they'll have 230,000 blank ballots -- one for every registered voter in the city.
The turnout for city general elections in the past 20 years has varied considerably. In 1993, when Sharon Sayles Belton defeated John Derus to become the city's first woman and first black mayor, more than 103,000 residents voted in the election. But in 1989, the last election in which an incumbent mayor faced such low-profile opposition, the turnout was just over 56,000.
The election will be watched beyond Minneapolis, as St. Paul voters decide whether to approve ranked-choice voting for their city. Their decision has implications for Minneapolis, according to interim Election Director Patrick O'Connor.
That's because demand determines the willingness of companies to develop vote-counting products that could automate the hand-counting process now required to handle voter choices. The more Minnesota cities using similar ranked-choice voting laws, the more willing equipment manufacturers will be to supply that market for the 2013 election, O'Connor said.
Raw results from Minneapolis voting will be posted on the Secretary of State's website but ought to be viewed with caution, O'Connor said. That's because the threshold for determining the winner in each race won't be determined until after election night, making it hard to be sure if a candidate has the necessary votes.
Overwhelming leaders on first-choice votes should be safe, but if nobody reaches the threshold, second- or third-choice votes have the ability to propel a lower-ranked candidate ahead of those leading in the first round.
Ranked-choice voting was approved by Minneapolis voters in 2006 and survived a legal challenge. That challenge was based on the potential harm the system could cause to voting, and thus faced a high legal bar.
A spokesman for the Minnesota Voters Alliance, which brought that challenge, said it plans another legal challenge based on how the method is applied in actual voting and counting, which would face a lower legal threshold.
Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438
Last update: November 3, 2009
Minneapolis voters go to the polls today to tackle ranked-choice voting, a new method of filling municipal offices, amidst uncertainty over the effect it could have on the final results.
City election officials didn't predict a turnout figure for the city's first election without a primary to winnow the field of candidates. But while the most prominent election of the day, the mayor's race, is not considered close, city officials offered conflicting opinions about whether the new method would stimulate voting or discourage it.
Voters will be asked to rank their first-, second- and third-choice candidates for each office, but not when they are voting yes or no on a charter amendment.
Although the results should be fairly evident in lopsided races, it could be weeks before a victor is known in contests where nobody achieves the required number of votes on first choices. Then the more complicated hand sorting of second and third choices will be required to declare a winner. That's where rankings of candidates could be the most influential.
While turnout remains a big question, city officials said they'll have 230,000 blank ballots -- one for every registered voter in the city.
The turnout for city general elections in the past 20 years has varied considerably. In 1993, when Sharon Sayles Belton defeated John Derus to become the city's first woman and first black mayor, more than 103,000 residents voted in the election. But in 1989, the last election in which an incumbent mayor faced such low-profile opposition, the turnout was just over 56,000.
The election will be watched beyond Minneapolis, as St. Paul voters decide whether to approve ranked-choice voting for their city. Their decision has implications for Minneapolis, according to interim Election Director Patrick O'Connor.
That's because demand determines the willingness of companies to develop vote-counting products that could automate the hand-counting process now required to handle voter choices. The more Minnesota cities using similar ranked-choice voting laws, the more willing equipment manufacturers will be to supply that market for the 2013 election, O'Connor said.
Raw results from Minneapolis voting will be posted on the Secretary of State's website but ought to be viewed with caution, O'Connor said. That's because the threshold for determining the winner in each race won't be determined until after election night, making it hard to be sure if a candidate has the necessary votes.
Overwhelming leaders on first-choice votes should be safe, but if nobody reaches the threshold, second- or third-choice votes have the ability to propel a lower-ranked candidate ahead of those leading in the first round.
Ranked-choice voting was approved by Minneapolis voters in 2006 and survived a legal challenge. That challenge was based on the potential harm the system could cause to voting, and thus faced a high legal bar.
A spokesman for the Minnesota Voters Alliance, which brought that challenge, said it plans another legal challenge based on how the method is applied in actual voting and counting, which would face a lower legal threshold.
Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438
Star Tribune Voter's Guide
If you are in hurry and need to decide at last minute, you could go to Star Tribune's Voter Guide.
Click here to go to Star Tribune Voters Guide.
Click here to go to Star Tribune Voters Guide.
'Not a whole lot of problems' in Minneapolis voting
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.
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.
Where to find your polling place to vote today
Today is Election Day so some area in Minnesota do have election so in case if you don't know where your polling place is, feel free to click on one of those link that would direct you to right place.
City of Minneapolis
City of Saint Paul and Ramsey County
Secretary of State Ritchie's Pollfinder
City of Minneapolis
City of Saint Paul and Ramsey County
Secretary of State Ritchie's Pollfinder
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