Let's bring our electoral system into the 21st century. After more than a decade of fractious gubernatorial races that produced winners backed by less than
50 percent of the electorate, it's crystal clear the status quo isn't serving most of us in Minnesota. At the White House Project, a nonpartisan organization aimed at advancing women's leadership in government, my colleagues and I have made building a truly representative democracy our life's work. That includes achieving an electoral system that actually upholds the principle of majority rule.
Regardless of who wins the governor's race, whether DFLer Mark Dayton, Republican Tom Emmer or the News Tribune's favored Independence Party candidate Tom Horner, he will do so with possibly as little as 35 percent of the vote.
It's time to bring an end to minority rule in Minnesota and replace the state's outmoded voting system with ranked-choice voting. Ranked-choice produces winners with broad support, reflective of and beholden to the will of the majority and makes commonality and constructive dialogue, not polarization and combativeness, political currency. Ranked-choice voting also eliminates voters' fears of inadvertently helping their least favorite candidate by voting for their favorite candidate, a rational response to a deeply flawed system that elects candidates who simply get the most votes among a divided electorate.
With the stakes so high in the governor's race, the newspaper's endorsement of Tom Horner is unlikely to assuage such fears.
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Ranked-choice voting would open the door to more choices and, along with meaningful campaign finance reform, could put political office truly within reach of any bright, thoughtful, hard-working citizen, regardless of party affiliation or bank account, who dreams of making his or her state a better place.
I hope Duluth, and then the state, will soon adopt ranked-choice voting.
Liz Johnson
Duluth
The writer directs the Midwest program of the White House Project.
