What is ranked-choice voting?
Ranked choice voting (RCV) is a voting system that eliminates the need for a primary election by asking voters to rank candidates in order of preference – first choice, second choice and third choice. This system allows your vote to count toward another candidate if your favorite candidate is eliminated.
Which offices will be elected using ranked-choice voting in 2025?
Minnetonka voters will use ranked choice voting to elect the mayor and the two at-large council members. RCV will not be used to elect any school board offices.
How many candidates can I rank?
You may rank up to three candidates for each city council seat on the ballot.
Are write-in votes permitted?
A write-in option is available in each ranking column for all council seats on the ballot. However, a write-in vote will only be counted if that candidate has formally declared that they wish to be an eligible write-in candidate for that office. Anyone who receives a write-in vote but has not submitted their Declaration of Intent to the city clerk is considered an Undeclared Write-In Candidate (UWI), and is therefore ineligible to receive write-in votes.
Can I rank the same candidate as my first, second and third choices?
You can mark your ballot for the same candidate more than once on the ballot, but your vote for that candidate will only be counted once. Any subsequent columns in which you select that candidate will effectively be considered blank. You do not improve a candidate's chances of winning by selecting them in multiple ranking columns.
Will my ballot still be counted if I skip a ranking or choose to rank fewer candidates than permitted?
Yes. Your ballot is still valid if you rank fewer than the maximum number of candidates permitted, or if you skip a ranking column. You are not required to rank the maximum number of candidates permitted. Your vote will count for the highest valid ranked candidate.
Will my ballot still be counted if I vote for more than one candidate in a ranking column?
Yes. Your ballot is still valid if you over-vote in any given ranking column. However, your votes in that specific column will not be counted. Your vote will count for the highest valid ranked candidate.
If I rank three choices, do three votes get counted?
No. Voters only have one vote counted for each race on the ballot. If your first choice candidate is eliminated during results tabulation, your vote will be transferred to the next valid ranking choice on your ballot. Ranking choices determine which candidate a vote transfers to when higher ranked candidates are eliminated—not to allow for multiple votes to be counted.
What is an "exhausted" ballot?
A ballot becomes "exhausted" when it cannot be advanced to the next round of tabulation because there is no "next ranking choice" to transfer the vote to. This happens when all of the candidates whom the voter selected have been eliminated during the tabulation process.
For example: a voter only selects one candidate in a race. That candidate is the lowest vote getter in a round of tabulation and is therefore eliminated. There is no "next ranking choice" to transfer the vote to, so the ballot is now exhausted.
Will the ballot counter tell me if I make an error on my ballot specific to RCV?
The ballot counter will alert you if you have over-voted (voted for more than one candidate in the same ranking column) or if your ballot is completely blank. In those scenarios, you may choose if you would like to cast your ballot as marked or discard your ballot and receive a new one to fix any mistakes. The ballot counter will not alert you if you skip rankings or vote for the same candidate in multiple ranking columns.
How are votes counted in the ranked choice voting system?
- Ballots may be counted in one or more rounds. The first round is tallied using first-choice votes only. If a candidate wins a majority (50% + 1) of first-preference votes in the first round, that candidate is the winner.
- If no candidate wins a majority (50% + 1) of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated. The ballot then proceeds to a second round.
- In the second round, the votes of everyone who ranked the eliminated candidate as their first choice are redistributed among the remaining candidates, based on those voters’ second choices.
- The process is repeated until one candidate has won a majority (50% + 1).
When will results be reported?
On election night, first choice vote totals will be reported on mnvotes.gov. City elections staff will begin the tabulation process on the following day.
When tabulation is finalized, the detailed round-by-round results will be posted on the city website. The city council will canvass these results at a meeting to be held the following week.
