Some two hundred and fifty Minnesotans from all political stripes came together in support of ranked choice voting at a FairVote Minnesota fundraiser in Minneapolis Tuesday evening.

Special guests and speakers included former Independence Party gubernatorial candidate Peter Hutchinson, DFL Party Chair Brian Melendez, former U.S. Senator Dave Durenberger, Minneapolis City Council Member Elizabeth Glidden, and Peter Wagenius speaking on behalf of Mayor Rybak.

In a show of strong cross partisan backing, all spoke in strong support for ranked choice voting,which Minneapolis will begin using this year forits municipal elections and which FairVote Minnesota is currently trying to getintroduced St. Paul and Duluth and passed at the State Capitol in thecoming years.

Other notables inattendance included Representative Steve Simon, Senator Ann Rest and Representative Jeff Hayden -- all sponsors of ranked choice voting legislation-- and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. Gubernatorial hopefuls Mark Dayton and Steve Kelley also attended. Candidates Senator John Marty and former state minority leader Matt Entenza are also supportersbut were unable to attend.

"The large turn out and political diversity represented in the crowd is very exciting and shows that momentum is gaining for this important reform in Minnesota", noted FairVote Minnesota executive director Jeanne Massey.

Prior to the event, guests were asked to help elect the dessert to serve at the party. Nearly 170 dessert-loving voters weighed in by ranking the candidates -- Chocolate Cake, Strawberry Cheesecake and Key Lime Pie -- in order of their preferences. 

Key Lime Pie won with 51.8% of the votes! It didn't receive a majority of votes in the first round, which meant that a runoff was needed to determine the winner. To the dismay of chocolate lovers, Key Lime Pie came in first place in round one, with 41.3%percent. Chocolate Cake trailed close behind, with 40.1%. Strawberry Cheesecake placed a distant third with 18.6% of the vote. Cheesecake was eliminated from the competition and votes for that candidate were reallocated to Key Lime Pie and Chocolate Cake according to the second preference marked oneach of those voters' ballots. Strawberry Cheesecake lovers had more in common with supporters of Key Lime Pie than Chocolate Cake aficionados, pushing Key Lime Pie to victory with 51.8% of the vote. See round by round results.

"This is an excellent way to demonstrate to people how ranked choice voting works and how simple it is", said party host Karla Ekdahl. "With ranked choice voting, there are no 'spoiler' candidates or 'wasted’ votes. All votes continue to count until one candidate wins with a majority of voter support".

Smart Politics' Eric Ostermeier and Star Tribune's Lori Sturdevant were there and covered the event in their respective columns. 

Click here to catch a glimpse of who was all there and the gorgeous venue for the event at 1600 Mount Curve.