By Lora Pabst
A Minneapolis resident only wanted to vote for his first choice this morning, but now his friends are raising questions about what happened to his vote. He asked an election official athis Uptownpolling place if he couldvote foronly choice and she said yes. Buta friend told him that his vote was probably thrown out. Another friend said that his vote would be counted if his candidate won, but notif there was a need to look at voters' 2nd and 3rd choices.
He wrote to Whistleblower for some clarification:
"So, I don't think people are understanding 1)whether one can vote for just one candidate or not; and 2) under what circumstances it would be necessary to look at voters' 2nd and 3rd choices."
The short answer isthat both of his friends are wrong.His vote counted no matter what thecircumstances. You canvote for your first choice in any race - whether it's a single-seat or multi-seat race.
In a single-seat race, election officials will look at voters' second and third choices if one candidate doesn't secure enough votesfor a victory.If you didn't selecta second or third candidate, your firstselection is still counted. Butif your first choicereceived the fewest number ofvotes and you forfeited yoursecond and third choices, you won't have a say after your first choice is eliminated.