Democracy: New way to vote


By Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Board
Published November 14th 2006 in Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The state's political parties sowed the wind of voter resentment when they got our beloved blanket primary thrown out.

The parties have yet to reap the whirlwind, but Pierce County voters kicked up a little dust devil on Election Day.

They approved a charter amendment that eliminates the primary election for most county offices in favor of a winner-take-all November instant runoff election.

The new process is to go into effect in 2008.

The county won't be the first entity in the country to use instant runoff, but it will be the largest.

American democracy has been called the great experiment, and small experiments can and should be part of it. We wish Pierce County well.
IRV Soars in Twin Cities, FairVote Corrects the Pundits on Meaning of Election Night '09
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers.  Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections;  the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.

And as pundits try to make hay out of the national implications of Tuesday’s gubernatorial elections, Rob Richie in the Huffington Post concludes that the gubernatorial elections have little bearing on federal elections.

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