RANKED CHOICE COULD DIMINISH EQUALITY

Our Star Tribune article on August 7, 2013 is based on a landline RDD phone survey that was fielded by the Information Specialists Group (ISG) between November 4th (the day after the 2009 municipal elections) and November 9th. In total, 300 Minneapolis voters, 204 Minneapolis nonvoters, 300 St. Paul voters, and 202 St. Paul nonvoters were interviewed. The response rate for the Minneapolis survey was between .29 (AAPOR RR1) and .46 (AAPOR RR6) and the response rate for the St. Paul survey was between .24 (AAPOR RR1) and .41 (AAPOR RR6).1 The response rate for the combined survey was between .26 and .44.2 The survey did not include cell phones – a decision that reflected common practice in 2009. Although the number of respondents is modest, all of the results of our analyses of RCV and political equality that were discussed in our Star Tribune article are “statistically significant” using standard analysis techniques. We report these tests of statistical significance below as well as our results.Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, Humphrey School of Public Affair, University of Minnesot