RESOLVED: The Minnesota legislature should adopt and implement ranked choice voting for all State and Federal primary and general elections.

Ranked-choice voting allows citizens to rank their candidate preferences on an election ballot instead of voting for a single candidate. If one candidate does not initially win a majority, competitors with the fewest votes are eliminated from the race and their voters’ second choices are applied to the tallies of the remaining candidates until one candidate achieves a majority.

Ranked choice voting is currently used in congressional and presidential elections in Maine and Alaska. A number of cities including Minneapolis, St. Paul and St. Louis PArk use ranked choice voting in local elections.

Supporters of this form of voting believe it allows voters to support like-minded competitors to defeat an unfavored candidate since fractured opposition can result in an unfavored candidate winning an election even if most voters oppose them. In addition, a voters choice counts even if their first choice may lose. Those opposing ranked-choice voting claim it is too complicated, would require significant voter education and would add to the costs of elections and increased delays in obtaining results.

What is a Braver Angels Debate.

A highly structured conversation in which a group of people think together, listen to one another, and are open to being changed by ideas.

You probably haven’t experienced anything like a Braver Angels Debate. It's not a political debate, where competing candidates attempt to win votes. Nor is it a competitive high school or college debate, where people advocate positions in which they may not believe for the sole purpose of vanquishing their foes.

A Braver Angels Debate is a highly structured conversation in which a group of people think together, listen carefully to one another, and allow themselves to be touched and perhaps changed by each other’s ideas. When done well, everyone walks out a little closer to the truth, more aware of the validity in opposing views, and with tighter community relationships.

Using the parliamentary debate process, the conversation grows and develops through a series of speeches supporting or opposing the resolution. The structured format of a Braver Angels Debate encourages the passionate and energetic expression of ideas. The speeches that support or challenge the resolution together with the questions to the speakers from those in attendance lead to a stimulating exploration of the topic through civil discourse. The primary rule of these debates calls on participants, speakers and questioners, to articulate what they actually believe, even if it’s complicated or incomplete, instead of trying to provide an air tight case or advancing a position they don’t really support.

To learn more about these debates with this guide to Braver Angels Debates or visiting our website that has videos and documents showing how these debates are different. If you are new to Zoom, which is the platform we use to present these debates, this  one-page document can help you get started.

Group registration is not enabled for this debate. If you would like to participate online in the virtual company of others, we recommend that you coordinate the timing of your registration and ask that individuals register for themselves. 

Registration for this debate will be closed 24 hours prior to the scheduled starting time. This allows us time to make our arrangements based on the number of participants and provide adequate staffing. 

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This debate is a free event brought to you by Braver Angels, a 501(c)(3) non-profit as part of our mission to depolarize America. We invite you to consider a gift to Braver Angels; all donations are tax deductible. Your support will allow us to offer more workshops and debates with the ultimate goal of uniting America.