Former Vermont Governor and Presidential candidate Howard Dean showed up at the polls Tuesday morning to vote, and to express his support of Instant Runoff Voting.
"So I think Instant Runoff Voting is really good. I'm delighted to be one of the relatively early cities that are using this, and I wanted to make a point that I think this is something that would be really good for the country," said Dean.
City officials are hoping to have the results of the mayoral election completed by 8 o'clock.
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.