Is RCV a fair system for racial minorities?
Yes. RCV is a voting system that treats all voters equally and therefore neither advantages nor disadvantages particular racial or ethnic groups. However, because RCV elects candidates in a single round election instead of a low turnout primary, it has a mitigating effect on the existing turnout discrepancies between many racial and ethnic minority groups and the majority population. In a 2008 op-ed, state Senator Mee Moua and Minneapolis Council member Ralph Remington wrote: “The effects of IRV are huge, and we believe it is one of the best modifications in our voting system – for communities of color — since the Voting Rights Act of 1964. For starters, all candidates get to go to the general election because the primary is eliminated. No longer will folks be excluded from running simply because they didn’t have enough funds or didn’t mobilize their base in a low-turnout primary. This extra step in the voting process – which gets very little attention from the media and “get-out-the-
