The two frontrunners for their party's nominations, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, are both active backers of instant runoff voting (IRV). In 2002, Sen. McCain recorded a message for backers of IRV in Alaska, while that year Sen. Obama was the lead sponsor of legislation to implement IRV for certain Illinois elections.
With most third party candidates also supporting IRV, we may see a rare
issue of consensus this November, although neither McCain nor Obama have
yet secured their party's nomination.In the states, instant runoff voting appears next on the ballot in Santa Fe (NM), where it has the backing of the mayor, local newspapers and key community leaders. It also is advancing legislatively in states like Vermont.
[Senator John McCain's message on IRV]
[Sen. Barack Obama's state legislative proposal on IRV]
[Santa Fe Website] and [local backer Voting Matter]
[Vermont Public Radio's February 19th debate on IRV]
[Instantrunoff.com]
A federal district court judge recently found the Village of Port Chester, New York liable for a
violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The village, which is
approximately 46.2% Hispanic, currently uses a staggered at-large
voting system, and has never elected a Hispanic person to one of its
seven Board of Trustees seats. The village is now seeking a proportional voting remedy, and FairVote has filed two amicus briefs highlighting the benefits of such a proposal. Choice voting, in particular, has a long history of use in New York City, thereby making it a particularly attractive remedy for a Voting Rights Act lawsuit.