Now it's time for ranked-choice voting to go to work -- ever so slowly.
The backup choices made by Minneapolis voters on Tuesday will determine who won three city-wide Park Board seats, two district park seats, the second elected seat on the Board of Estimate and Taxation, and whether two City Council incumbents on the North Side get the hook or another four years.
But the answers won't come soon, even though some 125 election judges began the painstaking hand-sorting of ballots Wednesday at the city's northeast Minneapolis election warehouse. Interim Election Director Patrick O'Connor said he's disappointed by the turnout of 45,964 voters -- the lowest in at least 20 years for a city election -- but it means counting should go faster.
Counting starts with council races, in the order determined by lots drawn two weeks ago.
Wards where the outcome is in doubt include the Fourth Ward race, where City Council President Barbara Johnson leads on first choices but remains under 50 percent, and the Fifth Ward, where incumbent Don Samuels is in the same situation. At 47 percent, both may well squeeze over the 50 percent threshold for election when the backup choices of voters are counted, but they may not know for a week or two. Two other council races have winners hovering close to 50 percent, but that may change when voter errors are tallied.
Votes from the also-rans
Because ranked-choice voting turns to those backup choices, the leader after the first choices are tallied may not be the ultimate winner. The backup choices come first from the candidates who are dropped from the canvass because they're too far behind to have a mathematical chance to win.
Here's how that would play out in the Nokomis area Park Board seat, where Carol Kummer has 37.7 percent of first-choice votes and Jason Stone has 35.6 percent, both well below the threshold of 50 percent: