The feasibility of instant runoff voting in Vermont
Options and issues for implementation

By Caleb Kleppner
Published March 9th 2007
On the heals of a successful 2006 Burlington mayoral election using instant runoff voting (IRV), Vermont House Bill 196 proposes IRV for some statewide elections beginning in 2008. In March 2007, the Secretary of State released a report on the feasibility of IRV elections in 2008.

FairVote commissioned a complementary report by Caleb Kleppner, one of the nation's foremost experts on the use and administration of ranked choice elections. This report lays out a full range of implementation options for Vermont and includes topics such as voting equipment, counting procedures and voter education programs. Along with the Secretary of State's report, Kleppner's report will help legislators and election officials develop an IRV implementation roadmap for 2008 and beyond.

Individual report documents are available below. You can download the full report in .zip form by clicking the report icon above.

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.

Links