Bloomington Primary Candidates on Ranked Choice Voting

All Primary Election candidates for Bloomington City Council and Mayor were asked about their positions on Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) through a candidate survey and at the July 10 League of Women Voters Bloomington Candidate Forum. Below is a summary of the candidates’ positions on RCV.

To watch their responses at the forum:

• Video of Mayoral candidates talking about RCV (4 min)

• Video of City Council candidates talking about RCV (4 min)
  

Mayoral Candidates

Dan Niziolek

• Position: Supports RCV

• “Ranked Choice Voting makes sense, and we as a city need to prioritize the fact that voter participation in municipal elections is very low – less than 26% participated in the last municipal election. We need to get out and create a community conversation about why people are not voting, look to change that … We’re going to talk about those issues, we are going to grow our voter participation, because that’s where democracy starts.”

Sharon Christensen

• Position: Supports RCV

• “I didn’t really know about Ranked Choice Voting in the beginning, and I went to an event, and I learned more about it. I believe RCV is a really good way of doing it. If you look at voting, the numbers are down, and actually the time that it takes, the cost to the city to run the primaries, to bring everybody through to the November election just makes sense.”

Rainer Einsmann

• Position: Supports RCV

• “I’m for Ranked Choice Voting. That’s a more efficient way of allocating votes.”

Tim Busse

• Position: Undecided

• “I support putting the issue of Ranked Choice Voting on the ballot to be decided by Bloomington voters.”

Ryan Kulka

• Position: Opposes RCV

• “I’m opposed to Ranked Choice Voting. I understand the position that it does promote sportsmanship within elections. However, I don’t agree that that’s the solution as far as raising voter turnout; I think there are other, better solutions.”

City Council At-Large Candidates

Jenna Carter

• Position: Supports RCV

• “I am supportive of Ranked Choice Voting in Bloomington. If you look at our current system with a primary and a general election, we have extremely low voter turnout in the primary election, and so a couple thousand people are really driving the outcomes of our elections. The system we have right now isn’t working well. I think RCV is a much better option. When you look at cities and states that have adopted RCV across the country, we’re seeing better outcomes, we’re seeing more diverse representation, and we’re seeing more positive campaigns … When you look at the cost of running two elections, it’s important to be thinking about how we can be more responsible with those dollars and resources we have.”

Judy Gelina

• Position: Supports RCV

• “I am supporting RCV for three reasons. All candidates get a chance to be looked at. For example, our four candidates [running for At-Large seat], two will go away without the whole voting population having a chance to vote for them. If it was ranked, everybody has a chance to vote for everybody, and that feels more fair to me. Also, the cost factor of not having to have a primary. The third thing is not a positive or a negative - change is hard, it can be confusing; we need to have some fairly heavy education on that.”

Brian “Clem” Clemens

• Position: Undecided

• “RCV is something I need to learn more about. I can tell you that the cost of primaries in this city is significant. To carry on two elections, it takes a lot of work and a lot of effort and a lot of money, so, from that perspective I do believe in RCV. I do believe there are things with RCV that need to get looked at and make sure that the value of the ranking of each of these votes and the balance of those things is fair for all.”

Larry James Hotchkiss

• Position: Unknown (was not at the forum and did not respond to the survey)

City Council District 1 Candidates

Johnathon McClellan

• Position: Supports RCV

• “I support Ranked Choice Voting, and so should you. RCV encourages more civility in campaigns, as well as increased outreach. RCV has been shown to increase a more diverse pool of candidates. RCV eliminates the cost of a primary both [for] the local government as well as the candidates. RCV also increases voter turnout by eliminating multiple rounds of voting. As a city looking for ways to engage more voter participation, and increase voter turnout to ensure communities are truly represented by the people, we have to look at proven pragmatic approaches. Ranked Choice Voting is such an approach.”

Dwayne Lowman (Incumbent)

• Position: Undecided

• “While more research and public consideration should be the driver for this change in the voting process, I would see if we have consensus on the council to propose a referendum. The Bloomington voters could consider a Ranked Choice solution (where 50% +1 vote is either declared the winner or that leads to a run off of the top two candidates where that can be achieved) … I think in this case it is important that the question be placed on the ballot for voters to decide how they would like their Council to be elected. I am very open to that process.”

Al Noard

• Position: Opposes RCV

• “As of now, I would be against RCV. I’m not well versed completely how the ranked works. To me it seems like the first candidate of everybody gets thrown out, so the second most popular person is always going to be the one that gets elected even though he may not be the best candidate to be running, so as of now, I would be against it.”