…when the left was screeching blue murder over electronic balloting?  How “Diebold” was in the bag for Republicans, and how transparency in the voting process was the most important factor in democracy?

Hey, I don’t disagree. Transparency is good.

So where all those “transparency is king” people now that the Twin Cities are both being beset by an electoral system that virtually nobody understands, gives an electoral edge to people who don’t get the most votes, and virtually guarantees that more elections will end up in the sort of costly re-election brouhahas we’ve had in 2008 and 2010 in Minnesota?

Mostly supporting electoral politics’ shiniest new toy, “Ranked Choice Voting”.  Saint Paul’s first ranked-choice election has led  to a recall among the city’s seven city council races – the fractious race in Ward Two, where incumbent Dave Thune got 39 percent of the vote.  That would have been a weak plurality win in a normal election.

This time, it means the “Green Party” candidate, Jim Ivey, whose campaign was largely based on trying to game the Ranked Voting system (and whose party is one of “IRV”‘s biggest proponents, for this very reason) and who got 26 percent in the first round, stands to potentially benefit in today’s recount:

Ivey has what looks like an edge. With about 1,300 second-place votes, he has a 4-3 edge over Thune among second-choice designations. But according to Ramsey County elections manager Joe Mansky, it’s not that simple.

“Because we know that not every ballot has a second choice,”Mansky said. “More to the point, the lowest-ranked candidates get counted first, meaning they have the greatest impact on the results.”

That means the reallocation will be a ballot-by-ballot battle, watched over by the candidates’ supporters in St. Paul.

And if nobody gets over 51%?   Chaos reigns!