At the Podium Last Week: September 5, 2015

Steve Droen brought us a very interesting speaker this week. Casey Krolczyk is a young man whose Rotary Youth Exchange experience meaningfully contributed to his choice of profession. While living in Switzerland Casey had the opportunity to witness the U.S. from the outside, especially relative to politics, and view our policies through the eyes of other countries. After graduating from college, Casey interned in the MN governor's office and fell in love with grass politics, eventually leading him to become a proponent and organizer for the concept of Ranked Choice Voting. He used a real club vote (for ice cream flavors) to demonstrate how it works and refute criticism of the process. In ranked choice voting, a voter gets to mark and rank order several choices on their ballot. This process replaces primaries in favor of one election, widens the voter base, and can improve voter turnout. Casey illustrated how it could reduce negative campaigning, since there is a full slate of contenders rather than two candidates focussed on finding fault with each other. Ranked choice voting is growing in popularity across the US, including the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Casey left us thinking outside the box about electoral politics, and with a better understanding of ranked choice voting. Thank you Steve and Casey!

p.s. Dark Chocolate rules at Wayzata Rotary Club