Your editorial on Arnold Schwarzenegger's victory in the California recall ("California's future," Oct. 9) rightly points out that "change was in the air," but has a significant error in describing voter turnout. Voter turnout was high relative to recent gubernatorial races in the state, but the 60 percent turnout of registered voters was less than California's 71percent turnout in the 2000 presidential contest.

I would offer two additional cautionary notes about the election. First, like Gray Davis in 2002, Mr. Schwarzenegger apparently captured less than half the votes in the recall. That total included a good number of votes from people who also voted no on the first part of the recall and thus apparently preferred Mr. Davis to any replacement. Second, because the Republican field of candidates winnowed so quickly and Tom McClintock suffered from "spoiler" charges, Mr. Schwarzenegger has yet to prove himself among Republican voters.

If the recall rules had allowed for instant runoff voting  such as Australia's ranked-choice system, which generates a majority winner in a single round of voting  Mr. Schwarzenegger would have had to prove majority support among a field that included other significant Republican candidates freed from the spoiler tag. His victory then would have been more clearly a mandate from the voters.