In the race for St. Paul Mayor one has to begin to narrow the scope of the reasons why they cast their vote for one candidate over the other.

Well, prior to the abomination that we call “Ranked Choice Voting”, that is.

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in Russia and China would be the perfect vehicle to usurping one of the basic pillars of democracy:  One person, one vote.

Instead of one person, one vote it is a multiple-choice vote where math becomes more important than the power of one person’s single vote to impact the composition of their government.

This year’s election for Mayor is not the first year that RCV has been used to water down the power of one individual’s vote.

Yet, it could be, and should be, the last year we should permit our system of democracy to be undermined by the whims and fancy of those who think changing how the system and process of an election is the secret sauce to improving our democracy.

On the contrary.

RCV does nothing but take the power of one’s vote away from them and gives it to a handful of people who understand how to exploit and manipulate RCV for their own ends.

All this being said it does me no good to complain about the system that is currently in place.  It is what it is.

So, instead of complaining, I am going to offer a suggestion to my friends who have made a decision to support Pat Harris for Mayor.

Vote early. 

And, vote once.

Just for Pat Harris.

If you believe strongly in Pat.  If you believe he is the candidate best prepared to lead the City.

The only candidate who has a comprehensive plan to not just improve relationships between the city’s police department and its community, but a plan to aggressively fight crime and get illegal guns off our street.

The one candidate who has publicly disavowed the city’s 24% property tax increase and the knowledge, experience and credibility to manage our city’s budget responsibly.

The only candidate whose life experience, commitment to his community and understanding of leadership.

If you believe all of this about Pat Harris then I suggest you do one thing and only thing on Election Day.

Vote once.

But vote often.

And each time vote just for Pat Harris.

Every single time you vote on Election Day using Ranked Choice Voting.

This form of bullet voting is important if you want to ensure that your single vote has the power it deserves in this pernicious voting system invented by narrow special interest groups to serve their interests – not the interests of democracy.

I want you to think about something.

There are 10 candidates running for St. Paul Mayor.

This means when you go into the ballot box you theoretically have to rank 10 candidates in order of who you think will be the best candidate to be our next Mayor.

Be honest.

Do you know enough about all 10 candidates to actually rank them intelligently?

If you do then I have two things to say.

You’re either a liar.

Or, you have way, way too much time on your hands.

But, again, this post isn’t about the awful and destructive RCV system on our democracy.

It’s about the tremendous opportunity we have to elect, among those 10 candidates, one candidate who is actually capable of leading our City.

Pat Harris.

So, once again, here’s how you make sure that Pat Harris, if he is your choice for Mayor, has the best chance to be Mayor.

Vote once for Pat Harris. 

10 times.

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10.

It’s pretty simple.

Saint Paul is a first-class city.  We deserve a first-class Mayor.

A first-class city with a first-class Mayor doesn’t elect its Mayor by second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth place votes.

It elects that Mayor with one vote.

Your vote.

Even if it takes you ten times to do it.