Minneapolis & St. Paul Elections 2021

RCV: what is it?

Minneapolis and St. Paul utilize a Ranked Choice Voting system. Ranked choice voting, sometimes called “instant runoff voting,” allows voters to rank as many or as few candidates as they like, from their most favored to least favored: first choice, second choice, third choice, etc. Voters can, but are not required to, rank multiple candidates. A voter may vote for only one candidate if they so choose. A winner may be declared in the first round if they earn, at least, 50% + 1 vote of the total votes.

RCV: the process
Tabulations are completed from 1st to 3rd rankings for each candidate on the ballot. Undervotes and overvotes for each candidate are removed. Thousands of write-in candidates are analyzed (this is an image file that must be verified and converted so it can be read as a name). Then, non-declared write-ins are removed. In the Minneapolis mayoral race, there were two declared write-in candidates, so those two were counted.

RCV: hot takes from Minneapolis

First round City Council winners include: LaTrisha Vetaw (Ward 4), Jamal Osman (Ward 6) who only faced one challenger, Lisa Goodman (Ward 7), Andrea Jenkins (Ward 8), Jason Chavez (Ward 9), Emily Koski (Ward 11), Andrew Johnson (Ward 12), and Linea Palmisano (Ward 13). 

First round Park Board winners include: Billy Menz (District 1) who had no challenger, Becky Alper (District 3), Elizabeth Shaffer (District 4), Steffanie Musich (District 5).

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Mayor Jacob Frey fails to win in the first round but garners a win after second round tabulations. While his opponent, Sheila Nezhad, garnered the most DFL convention delegate votes, second place for first round tabulations, and heightened visibility throughout the campaign, the overall second place mayoral candidate was Kate Knuth, following the second round tabulations.