A grassroots group of Bloomington residents who believe city officials hastily approved a ranked-choice voting referendum question for the ballot four years ago (that passed by just 96 votes) say they have the momentum to repeal the system this fall.
Residents for a Better Bloomington were able to secure the more than 2,100 signatures required to get the following question on the ballot:
“Should the City Charter be amended to repeal ranked-choice voting to elect the Mayor and City Council and reinstate the primary election (if needed) to determine candidates for the general election? A ‘yes’ vote means you want to stop using ranked-choice voting to elect the Mayor and City Council. A ‘no’ vote means you want to continue to use ranked-choice voting to elect the Mayor and City Council.”
If 51 percent of voters answer “YES” to the question, the city charter will be amended to repeal ranked-choice voting for mayoral and city council elections.
“I am pleased that the efforts of dozens of volunteers paid off in the end to put ranked-choice voting back on the ballot,” said David Clark, co-chair of the repeal effort. “Giving Bloomington another chance to vote on RCV is a big step in reining in government overreach.”
Bloomington isn’t the first city to see an RCV repeal effort make the ballot. In 2023, a similar effort to repeal RCV in Minnetonka’s citywide races failed.
Grassroots pushback against a mega donor-funded RCV group
Clark has spearheaded an opposition movement to RCV that has grown beyond Bloomington’s borders over the last few years as Minnesota residents push back against DFL-aligned ranked-choice voting efforts.
An organization that calls itself FairVote Minnesota is the chief campaign arm for RCV across the state, and its coffers have been heavily-funded by wealthy, out-of-state Democrats.
As FairVote Minnesota has seen its budget increase in recent years, executive director Jeanne Massey’s salary has quadrupled.
No Republicans have come out in favor of ranked-choice voting.
A campaign asking Bloomington residents to vote “NO” on the measure includes endorsements from Gov. Tim Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Congressman Dean Phillips, congressional candidate Kelly Morrison, state legislators Nathan Coulter, Melissa Wiklund, Alice Mann, and Mike Howard and candidate Julie Greene. One prominent Democrat who had been outspoken in his criticism of RCV was former Vice President Walter Mondale.
Clark testified at the state legislature several times during the 2023 and 2024 sessions against a handful of bills designed to turn Minnesota into ranked-choice voting state. Maine and Alaska are the only two states in the nation to feature statewide RCV for at least some of their elections.
“What you are hearing (from RCV proponents) is that it increases voting opportunities for minorities,” Clark said during an April legislative hearing on an RCV bill. “It actually disenfranchises minorities because their votes are thrown out or spoiled at a much higher rate than other groups,” Clark continued, citing a study published in January by the Center for Election Confidence.
Bipartisan vote to defeat RCV in Minnesota House in May
The organization notes that a ranked-choice voting bill was defeated on the House floor with opposition from Republicans and Democrats.
RCV opponents also often cite a 2023 study published by the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, which found no conclusive evidence for the RCV proponents’ claims that it lessens political polarization and increases diversity in elected offices.
This isn’t the first time Residents for a Better Bloomington has sought to repeal RCV. In 2022, the organization submitted enough signatures to get an RCV repeal question on citywide ballots, but a district judge ruled their petition question violated state law because it included a clause that stated future RCV referenda would have to be approved by a two-thirds majority.
“The traditional voting system has served us well,” Clark said, adding that the timing of the 2020 ballot question to approve RCV caught residents off guard, as it was offered “without evident public support and amidst the COVID lockdown, and a sophisticated, very expensive, externally funded public relations effort. Who asked for RCV? What was broken? What was the hurry?”
Hank Long
Hank Long is a journalism and communications professional whose writing career includes coverage of the Minnesota legislature, city and county governments and the commercial real estate industry. Hank received his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, where he studied journalism, and his law degree at the University of St. Thomas. The Minnesota native lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and four children. His dream is to be around when the Vikings win the Super Bowl.
