IRV vs. Runoffs

Absentee voting and runoffs

Runoff elections are often a cause of disenfranchisement for military and absentee voters.

Instant runoff voting brochure

Brochure outlining the advantages of IRV and highlighting some problems associated with runoff elections.

Federal primary elections and voter turnout decline

Shrinking voter turnout in federal election runoffs: 113 of 116 runoffs between 1994 and 2008 saw turnout dropoffs. Downloadable data available.

Analysis of Louisiana's two-round systemA 2000 analysis by FairVote on the two-round "Cajun primary" system shows that it can produce anti-democratic results and incentives.
Coincident runoffs in Brazilian gubernatorial and presidential elections
This 2007 FairVote analysis identifies two potential, undesirable effects Brazil's runoff system.