What would LeRoy Collins do?Gov. Jeb Bush has often said how much he admires one of his predecessors, LeRoy Collins, for the courage he displayed in confronting racism and the Pork Chop Gang that ruled Florida five decades ago. As he considers HB 1673, the bill to repeal the runoff primary, the governor could wisely ask himself, "What would Collins do?"
Without a runoff, acting Gov. Charley Johns, the Pork Chop Senate president, would have won the election when Collins and another progressive split the first primary vote. There were more voters in the second round than the first, proving that citizens do turn out for a runoff that obviously matters. Johns' election would have been disastrous.
The case against the runoff, which was suspended for the last two elections, is that election supervisors need eight weeks, not three or four, to prepare ballots. This is a pitiful excuse for trashing the principle of majority rule. The first primary could be advanced to July - most campaign venues are air-conditioned these days - or, much better, the law could be changed to provide for second-choice voting: an instant runoff.
A no-runoff regime would strongly tempt candidates from the extreme wings of both parties, not to mention spoilers who would run (or be put into) certain races not to elect themselves but to split someone else's constituency. The example of Ross Perot hindering President George H.W. Bush's re-election campaign comes to mind.
There was bipartisan opposition to HB 1673. It deserves to be vetoed.
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.