I am not a fan of ranked choice voting, and Saturday's Ward Five convention did nothing to endear me to this new process.
At another convention where I was volunteering for a mayoral candidate, I wound up talking with Kim Ellison for almost an hour about RCV, and much of that dialogue centered around aspects of this system that I *do* like--for instance, candidates are adopting a much more civil tone in their campaigns. I just happen to think we're using ranked choice in all the wrong elections. (For instance, the lack of a primary makes it hard to weed out "vanity" candidates who have no chance of winning. But look at last year's state representative primary election. Ranked choice voting then would have saved us from a contentious recount.) This voting process has its upsides, but Saturday revealed a few drawbacks as well.
At the fifth ward DFL convention, the chair brought up RCV as a possible way to facilitate the endorsement process. Here's how it (I use the next word loosely) worked...
