LETTER: Vote ‘no’ to save RCV and improve the political system for the next generation

To the Editor:

The story of democracy in the United States is one of evolution. From the framers on down to the present day, each generation has made it their mission to extend the vote to people who had previously been disenfranchised and excluded from our electoral system. Women, people of color, and young people all have the right to vote today because of the hard work of past generations to make our country more democratic.

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is the next step in the evolution of our democracy. Previous generations fought long and hard to achieve more access to the ballot box for more people from more backgrounds. Now it’s our turn, except this time we get to expand the power of all voters’ ballots. That’s exactly what Minnetonka voters did when they voted to adopt RCV for city council and mayoral elections in 2020.

RCV gives voters more choice by letting them rank candidates in order of preference. Instead of being restricted to choosing one candidate among a field of many, voters in RCV elections are able to rank multiple candidates. Our feelings about politics are rarely a simple binary, and under RCV our vote choices don’t have to be either.

But the benefits of RCV don’t stop at empowering voters. As a consequence of the need to earn second and third-choice votes, candidates are incentivized to run better campaigns. By design, RCV reduces the mudslinging and personal attacks that have become staples of our politics. Instead of hearing candidates yell at us about why their opponent is the wrong choice, isn’t it refreshing to hear candidates make the case why they are the right choice?

When I taught American government to high schoolers, I heard over and over how disillusioned our young people are by our politics. Every election, they see our candidates tearing each other down. By voting “no” on the city question and preserving RCV, Minnetonkans can leave our kids and grandkids with a political system that is better than how we found it, just as previous generations did for us.

State Senator Steve Cwodzinski

Cwodzinski is the Minnesota State Senator for District 49, including southern Minnetonka.