Ranked Choice Voting,got its first serious tests in the Twin Cities on Tuesday. Minneapolis Mayoral candidate Betsy Hodges, who led in first-preference voting by a wide margin seemed to be the odds-on favorite to formally claim victory Wednesday when election officials turn to redistributing second- and third-choice votes from the low-scoring contenders in the cast of 35 candidates.

Hodges, a progressive Democrat, earned 36 percent of the voters’ first preference picks, 11 points ahead of her closest rival, fellow Dem Mark Andrew, who congratulated Hodges and proclaimed her the winner, causing RCV supporters to warn that the election was not yet over and that, in fact, it was too early to declare a victor. Distributed by OneLoad.com