Home How Instant Runoff Voting Works Burlington Instant Runoff Voting in the News FAQ Links I'd Like to Help Contact Us A short history of the adoption of IRV in Burlington, Vermont In April 1998 the Vermont House of Representatives passed a resolution sponsored by the Committee on Local Government (HR.37) establishing the Vermont Commission to Study Preference Voting. The Commission was made up of 11 citizens including former Democratic and Republican legislators, a member of at Libertarian Party, leaders from the League of Women Voters and Common Cause, and a variety of unaffiliated citizens. In January 1999 the Commission issued a unanimous report urging the legislature to adopt instant runoff voting for all statewide elections. Following the Vermont League of Women Voters' involvement with this study of preference voting, the League in 1999 adopted a formal League position advocating IRV. Soon after, numerous other Vermont civic organizations endorsed IRV as well, including the Vermont chapters of the Grange, Common Cause, VPIRG, the American Association of University Women, the Older Women's League, and the Labor Council AFL-CIO. In March 2002 Burlington voters passed a non-binding referendum question, placed on the ballot by the city council at the urging of the League of Women Voters, urging the legislature to adopt instant runoff voting for the election of governor and other statewide offices. The referendum passed with 70% of the vote (5125-2219). In 2003 the Burlington City Council established, and Council President Andy Montroll appointed a "blue ribbon commission" including two former city councilors and other citizens to study and report on ways to improve the election, functioning and procedures of the city council. Among the items in the blue ribbon commissions final report was the option of using the single transferable vote method for electing city councilors (the multi-seat variant of IRV). The council did not take action on the items in the report, but members expressed interest in the idea of using a ranked-ballot system for municipal elections. In 2004, the Burlington city council placed an advisory question on the Burlington ballot in the November 2nd general election asking whether the voters would recommend amending the charter to use instant runoff voting in the election of mayor, which included an explanation of how such a system might work. The advisory question was passed by a two to one margin. The city council placed a charter amendment on the annual town meeting ballot in 2005, which would adopt IRV for mayoral elections. With the active campaigning by the League of Women Voters in favor of the amendment, the voters passed it by an wide margin of 64% to 36%. Because Vermont is not a "home-rule" state, all municipal charter amendments need ratification by the state government to go into effect. The Vermont House and Senate ratified the Burlington IRV charter amendment by adopting H.505, and on May 12, 2005 Governor Douglas signed the bill into law making the IRV charter amendment final.