It’s a busy election season for instant runoff voting! IRV is on the ballot in several jurisdictions this November. St. Paul (MN) is voting on whether to adopt IRV. Aspen (CO) is holding an advisory vote on whether to keep IRV, and the county council of Pierce County (WA) has placed a charter amendment on the ballot repeal it. Civic groups like local arms of the League of Women Voters are boosting the IRV side, and leading newspapers are coming out for IRV, including the Seattle Times and Tacoma News Tribune endorsing IRV in Pierce County and the Minneapolis Star Tribune backing IRV in St. Paul.Lowell (MA) is voting on adoption of the choice voting method of proportional voting. Cambridge (MA) will be holding choice voting elections, and IRV and choice voting will be used for the first time in elections in Minneapolis (MN).
Links:
- Rob Richie's blog on why FairVote supports IRV
- Fair Vote Lowell
- St. Paul Better Ballot Campaign
- Pierce County: ProtectVoterChoice.com
- Minneapolis Star Tribune supports IRV in St. Paul
- Seattle Times supports IRV in Pierce County
On October 11, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a voter pre-registration measure spearheaded this year by the New America Foundation and backed by FairVote, Common Cause, Californians for Electoral Reform and many others. It establishes that all Californians turning 17 can register to vote. Voter pre-registration measures allowing 16-year-olds to pre-register have also become law in recent years in North Carolina and Florida. A member of the Massachusetts statehouse leadership announced last week that a similar measure is her top priority in coming weeks, and the Washington, D.C. City Council last week unanimously backed pre-registration legislation.