Ranked choice voting provision

SF 1071 would allow Minnesota local governments (like cities and counties) to choose ranked choice voting for their local elections. The bill creates procedures for jurisdictions to adopt the system, including rules for counting votes where voters rank candidates by preference instead of selecting just one. It specifies that if a voter ranks multiple candidates equally or ranks more than one at the same position, that vote is handled as a partial defect. This bill does not require any jurisdiction to adopt ranked choice voting, only permits them to do so if they choose, and applies only to local elections, not state or federal races.