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VII.3. Petition for Ranked Choice Voting in Hopkins; Domeier CITY OF HOPKINS Memorandum To: Honorable Mayor and Council Members Mike Mornson, City Manager From: Amy Domeier, City Clerk Date: July 14, 2026 Subject: Petition for Ranked Choice Voting in Hopkins _____________________________________________________________________ PURPOSE On June 18, 2026, a petition proposing an amendment to the City Charter related to ranked choice voting was submitted to the city. INFORMATION The Charter Commission held a special meeting on July 1, 2026, to transmit the petition to the City Council. Assistant City Attorney Joseph Sathe has prepared a memorandum providing information and analysis regarding the proposed charter amendment, including: • Overview of the methods available for amending the City Charter • Role and responsibilities of the City Council in the charter amendment process • Review of the proposed amendment language • Analysis of whether the proposed amendment is unconstitutional, conflicts with state or federal law, or is inconsistent with state public policy • Memorandum submitted by the Committee of Petitioners • Summary of next steps in the process FUTURE ACTION Prior to the August 11, 2026, deadline for providing notice to the county regarding whether the City will conduct an election, the City Council will receive additional information regarding the eligibility of the proposed amendment for placement on the ballot. If the amendment is determined to be appropriate for ballot consideration, the City Council will be asked to adopt the ballot question language for the 2026 general election. ATTACHMENTS • Memo from Kennedy & Graven Legal Counsel Administration DOCSOPEN\HP145\148\1105184.v2-7/10/26 Kennedy Fifth Street Towers 150 South Fifth Street, Suite 700 Minneapolis MN 55402-1299 (612) 337-9300 telephone (612) 337-9310 fax http://www.kennedy-graven.com Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer Graven C H A R T E R E D MEMORANDUM DATE: July 14, 2026 TO: Hopkins City Council FROM: Joseph L. Sathe, Assistant City Attorney RE: Petition to Amend City Charter This memorandum provides information on the responsibilities of the Hopkins City Council in handling a citizen petition that was submitted on June 18, 2026 (the “Petition”) to amend the City Charter to require ranked choice voting. I. Overview of Ways to Amend the Charter There are four primary ways to amend a city charter and each process includes unique steps and requirements. In recent years, the Charter Commission proposed amendments resulting in city elections on those proposed amendments as well as proposing amendments by ordinance. A third way to amend a city charter is through a citizen-proposed amendment. The citizen-petition process starts with a group of registered voters (“Committee of Petitioners”) circulating a petition with a proposed charter amendment and collecting signatures of registered voters equal to five percent of the votes cast in the last state general election. The number of signatures required for this petition is 479.1 The petition is then submitted to the Charter Commission which then transmits the petition to the City Council. The Charter Commission met on July 1, 2026, and transmitted the petition to the City Council as more than 479 signature lines were filled in. Following transmission from the Charter Commission to the City Council, the City Clerk must verify that the signatures on the petition are from registered voters. The City Clerk compares the information in the petition against the State Voter Registration System (SVRS) and confirms that 479 valid signatures of registered voters signed the petition. The City Clerk completed her review and confirmed that 479 registered voters signed the petition. Once the review is complete, the City Clerk certifies the results of their review to the City Council and the City Council determines if the question can be placed on the ballot and, if so, establishes a ballot question and submits the amendment at an election. 1 9568 votes were cast in Hopkins in the state general election in 2024. Five percent of 9568 is 478.4, meaning that 479 signatures are needed to submit a petition to amend the Charter. Offices in Minneapolis Saint Paul St. Cloud & DOCSOPEN\HP145\148\1105184.v2-7/10/26 II. Role of the Council The role of the City Council is to determine whether the charter amendment can be placed on the ballot and if so, establish a ballot question and submit the amendment at an election. The City Council is not being asked to act on these questions at the July 14 meeting, and instead will be asked to make a determination at a future regular or special meeting in the coming weeks. At that future meeting, the Council will be asked to determine with the amendment is unconstitutional, contrary to state or federal law, or state public policy, and if it is not, to adopt a ballot question for the November 2026 general election. III. Amendment Language The following is the actual language of the proposed charter amendment: “Notwithstanding any other provision of this Charter or any ordinance, the voters shall elect the mayor and city council members by the method of Single Transferable Vote, also known as Ranked Choice Voting. Single Transferable Vote/Ranked-Choice Voting means an election method by which voters rank candidates for an office in order of their preference and votes are tabulated and candidates are selected as established by ordinance. The council shall, by ordinance, establish the ballot format, rules for counting votes, and breaking a tie consistent with this section and any applicable Minnesota Statutes.” IV. Is the amendment unconstitutional, contrary to state or federal law, or state public policy? The City Council is generally required to send a petition proposed amendment to voters unless the amendment is unconstitutional, contrary to state or federal law, or state public policy. As described at a very high level below, there are a number of potential issues with implementing ranked choice voting in even numbered years in Hennepin County. City staff will request representatives or statements from Hennepin County and the Minnesota Secretary of State on the feasibility of implementing ranked choice voting for consideration by the City Council when determining if the amendment can be placed on the ballot. a. Election Equipment The current election equipment in Hennepin County is not programmed to be able to switch multiple times between ranked choice and traditional vote counting. Amending the programming requires testing and certification that would need to be done by entities other than the city. It is not clear whether this testing and certification could be accomplished prior to the 2028 election. In addition, there could also be issues with assistive election equipment functioning properly. b. Ballot Layout State law requires use of a single ballot (front and back) except the judicial offices may go onto a second card. Minnesota Rules, part 8250.0375. There are issues with current election equipment DOCSOPEN\HP145\148\1105184.v2-7/10/26 switching more than once between reading ranked choice and standard formats on the same ballot and this rule means there cannot be a separate ballot with only ranked choice seats. c. Order of Offices State law dictates the order of offices on the ballot. Minnesota Rules, part 8250.1810. The result of this rule is that the ballot cannot be reordered so city ranked choice seats are first or last, resulting in only a single switch. V. Memo from Committee of Petitioners A representative of the Committee of Petitioners submitted a memo to the City Clerk addressing whether the City would be required to transition back to odd-year elections to accommodate ranked choice voting. A copy of the memo is enclosed. For reference, all other cities that use ranked choice voting have elections in odd-numbered years. Saint Paul is transitioning to even-year elections in 2028. Minneapolis chose not to transition to even-year elections and analyzed many of the issues with transitioning to even-year elections with ranked choice voting that are mentioned in this memo. The memo from the Committee of Petitioners acknowledges that there are “administrative, technical, and rule changes necessary to accommodate RCV contests on combined even-year elections” but states that “Hopkins will be able to benefit from the implementation work and experience gained through St. Paul’s transition.” This memo does not address, and in fairness the Committee of Petitioners may not be aware of the fact, that Ramsey County and Hennepin County use different accredited voting systems from different vendors – meaning that while there may be some crossover benefits, the situation in Hopkins is unique from the situation in Saint Paul and has a unique set of issues to address. VI. Next Steps At a special or regular meeting held prior to the deadline for providing notice to the county that the city will have an election (August 11, 2026), the City Council will be presented with additional information on whether the proposed amendment can be placed on the ballot and, if so, will be asked to adopt a ballot question for use in the 2026 general election. At that future meeting, City staff will invite representatives from Hennepin County and the Minnesota Secretary of State to attend or provide additional information for Council’s consideration. MEMORANDUM To: Hopkins City Clerk From: Gary DeVaan Date: July 9, 2026 Re: Ranked Choice Voting and Even-Year Municipal Elections I understand there have been questions regarding whether the proposed Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) charter amendment would affect the City's transition to even-year municipal elections. The short answer is no . Adoption of the charter amendment would not require Hopkins to return to odd-year elections or otherwise alter the City's plans to hold municipal elections in even-numbered years. Hopkins voters approved that transition last year, and the RCV campaign fully supports that change. Historically, Minnesota cities using Ranked Choice Voting have held municipal elections in odd-numbered years because that was when their municipal elections were conducted. However, that circumstance is changing. In St. Paul, a city that has used Ranked Choice Voting since 2011, voters in 2024 approved moving city elections to even-numbered years, so the City is now preparing to conduct Ranked Choice Voting municipal elections alongside state and federal contests starting in 2028. As part of that implementation, the City of St. Paul, Ramsey County, and the Minnesota Secretary of State's Office are working through the administrative, technical, and rule changes necessary to accommodate RCV contests on combined even-year ballots. One of the primary implementation issues involves ballot layout and related election administration procedures. This work is already underway to ensure that RCV contests can be successfully administered alongside state and federal races. While this implementation work is ongoing, it does not affect a city's authority to adopt Ranked Choice Voting. Rather, it addresses the mechanics of administering RCV on a combined ballot once municipal elections are held in even-numbered years. Hopkins will be able to benefit from the implementation work and experience gained through St. Paul's transition. In summary: ● The proposed charter amendment does not require Hopkins to return to odd-year elections. ● The amendment does not supersede or interfere with the City's transition to even-year elections. ● The amendment addresses how Hopkins elects its municipal officials, not when those elections are held. ● St. Paul is preparing to administer Ranked Choice Voting in even-year municipal elections beginning in 2028 following voter approval of its charter amendment. ● Election officials are currently addressing the administrative and rule changes necessary to accommodate ballot layout and election administration for combined even-year ballots. ● Hopkins will be able to build on the implementation work and experience developed through St. Paul's transition. Please let me know if I can provide any additional information or answer any further questions regarding the administration of Ranked Choice Voting in even-year municipal elections.