The following is a transcript of part of a Howard Dean interview on Vermont Radio's Mark Johnson Show on 3/13/09 where Dean discusses instant runoff voting:

Johnson: Why is it a better system than, say, the old system where you would have a runoff a couple of weeks later?

Dean: Well the first problem with the Burlington runoff is that it only took 40% to avoid one, so if you’ve got 40% percent of the vote, which is not a majority, you were then the mayor, and I think its better to have a majority elect the mayor.  Secondly, its expensive to have a second election, and thirdly, you get a lower turnout.  So I think the best and most democratic way to use to elect people in multiparty elections is instant runoff voting.

Johnson: Why hasn’t it spread more across the country?

Dean: It’s a change, it’s sort of a progressive way of looking at things, and I think the people in this country are traditionalist, and I think there’s some resistance to it.  A lot of people…it’s hard to understand…a lot of people don’t understand what they’re doing, I think this time around most citizens in Burlington had a much better idea of how this all worked than what they did last time.  It just takes time.