Duluth, Minnesota, Question 2, Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative (November 2015)

Duluth Question 2
Election date November 3, 2015
Topic Local elections and campaigns and Local electoral systems
Status Defeated
Type Initiative

Duluth Question 2 was on the ballot as an initiative in Duluth on November 3, 2015. It was defeated.

A "yes" vote supported enacting ranked-choice voting for municipal elections in Duluth.

A "no" vote opposed enacting ranked-choice voting for municipal elections in Duluth.

Election results

Duluth Question 2
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		5,271	25.30%
No		15,564	74.70%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Question 2 was as follows:

“

DULUTH CHARTER AMENDMENT – RANKED CHOICE VOTING Shall the Duluth City Charter be amended to adopt Ranked Choice Voting, also known as Single Transferable Vote, as the method for electing the mayor and the city councilors without a separate primary election and with ballot format and rules for counting votes to be adopted by ordinance? A "Yes" vote means the Duluth City Charter will be amended to adopt Ranked Choice Voting as the method for electing the mayor and city councilors with the ballot format and rules for counting votes to be adopted by ordinance. A "No" vote means the Duluth City Charter will not be amended to adopt Ranked Choice Voting as the method for electing the mayor and city councilors.

”

Support

Arguments

• Former City Councilor David Wheeler: "You have to appeal to a broader variety of voters when you run a ranked-choice campaign. You can’t just get your base out. You have to have conversations with many more people, and sometimes people who don’t agree with you. And frankly, that’s one of the things that’s broken in our national political system, is that there’s so much division between right and left, between Republicans and Democrats, and there’s such an inability for people to sit down with people who they don’t agree with."
• State Rep. Erik Simonson: "I’ve heard that this is a solution in search of a problem, and the reality is: If we’re allowing 20 percent or less of our voters to narrow our group of candidates down to two, that’s a problem. If we’re promoting anger and hostility amongst our campaigns, that’s a problem. I think that this takes a step in the right direction and moves us toward a healthy campaign that’s based on issues."

Opposition

Arguments

• Former Duluth City Council President Dan Hartman: "I would say that nothing is more negative about this ranked-choice vote in Duluth than how it affects the At Large race. When this whole system was developed, it was developed for single-seat races, not the At Large race. If you try to explain to anyone how that system works for the At Large race, that person just gets confused."
• City Councilor Joel Sipress: "We have no wasted vote problem in our local elections. We have a primary, and out of the primary come the top two finalists, and then in November you make your choice between those two finalists. So there is no wasted vote problem. You never have to worry that in the November election you’re going to vote for a quote-unquote ‘minor’ candidate and get your least-favorite candidate elected."

Background

Ranked-choice voting (RCV)

See also: Ranked-choice voting (RCV)

The ballot measure has played a role in shaping electoral systems in the U.S., including ranked-choice voting (RCV) for state and local elections.

Since 1915, there have been more than 150 ballot measures to adopt or repeal ranked-choice voting systems. Ashtabula, Ohio, was the first jurisdiction to approve a ranked-choice voting measure in 1915.

RCV is an electoral system in which voters rank candidates on their ballots. RCV can be used for single-winner elections or multi-winner elections; when used for multi-winner elections, the system has also been called single-transferable vote or proportional representation. These terms were often used to describe multi-winner RCV before the 1970s. You can learn more about ranked-choice voting systems and policies here.

Local RCV ballot measures

See also: History of ranked-choice voting (RCV) ballot measures

Between 1965 and 2024, 79 ranked-choice voting (RCV) local ballot measures were on the ballot in 58 jurisdictions in 19 states.

• Ballotpedia has located 71 local ballot measures to adopt RCV. Voters approved 52 (78.9%) and rejected 15 (21.1%).

• There were eight local ballot measures to repeal RCV. Voters approved four (50.0%) and rejected four (50.0%).

• The year with the most local RCV ballot measures was 2022, when nine were on the ballot in nine jurisdictions. Voters approved seven of them.

• The state with the most local ballot measures related to RCV is California, where there have been 13.

The following table shows the number of ranked-choice voting measures by topic.

Local ranked-choice vote measures by topic and outcome, 1965 - April 2025
Topic	Total	Approved	Approved (%)	Defeated	Defeated (%)
Adopt RCV	72	57	79.2%	15	20.08%
Repeal RCV	8	4	50.0%	4	50.0%
Total	80	61	76.3%	19	23.7%

Path to the ballot

Supporters of the citizen-initiated charter amendment filed signatures, of which 2,036 were valid. At least 1,606 signatures needed to be valid. The number of signatures required was equal to 5% of the 32,123 ballots cast in Duluth during the last general state election.

See also

Local measures

• Local measures in 2015
• Local electoral systems on the ballot

Minnesota

• Minnesota 2015 local measures
• Local ballot measures, Minnesota
• Duluth, Minnesota

News and analysis

• State and local preemption conflicts
• Measures advancing national agendas