All the scare talk about instant runoff voting turned out to be just that -- scare talk.

After the Legislature authorized the new process for North Carolina, Hendersonville on Nov. 6 became the second city to use the instant runoff process.

An exit poll of voters showed that they found the process easy to follow and that they preferred it to voting in separate elections.

North Carolina State University's Dr. Michael Cobb, assistant professor of political science, designed the exit poll to gauge voters' reaction to instant runoff voting.

The exit poll included interviews with more than 800 voters from Hendersonville.

The exit poll found that 71 percent of voters preferred instant runoff voting. Almost nine out of 10 voters said the ballot was at least "somewhat easy to understand" and three out of five said it was "very easy" to understand.

The findings confirmed a theory we've long held: Voters aren't stupid.

The new process seemed like a common-sense way to save the voters' time and the taxpayers' money. How often does that happen?