Takoma Park to run next city election with IRV

Maryland city joins four others around nation

On April 10, 2006, the city council of Takoma Park, Maryland voted unanimously for a second and final time to change the city council charter to ensure all future city elections are held with instant runoff voting. The vote followed a resounding 84%--16% win in a November 2005 advisory measure. IRV will be used in November 2007 elections for mayor and city council, although could be used earlier to fill any vacanies. Ballots will be counted by hand, as the city changed to paper ballots in 2005 to save money.

Takoma becomes the fifth city having adopted IRV in the modern era. San Francisco (CA) and Burlington (VT) have run successful IRV elections. Voters in Ferndale (MI) and Berkeley (CA) supported IRV by overwhelming margins, and IRV will be used once it can be implemented. Several other jurisdictions have changed their charters to allow IRV to be implemented by statute.

[ FairVote's Takoma Park IRV page ]
[ IRVictory Fund ]
[ More on Burlington elections]
[ More on San Francisco elections ]

South Carolina Picks Instant Runoff Voting for Military and Overseas Voters

New ballot lets overseas citizens participate in runoff elections

South Carolina will provide an instant runoff voting (IRV) ballot for military and overseas voters after Gov. Sandford signed HB 3720 into law on March 24.

States and cities with runoffs traditionally have difficulty mailing, receiving and processing a second runoff ballot for citizens stationed overseas in the narrow period between the first and second elections. With IRV, only one mailing will be needed. An overseas voter's choice will be counted in the runoff for the top-ranked candidate on the runoff ballot who has advanced to the runoff. In the event a voter's first choice is not in the runoff, the runoff ballot will count for the second or third choice, depending on which candidate has advanced.

[ Read Text of HB 3720 (.doc) ]
[ How ranked choice ballots work in Louisiana ]
[ An AP story on the issue quoting FairVote ]
[ Visit the Overseas Vote Foundation's Website for more information ]

Burlington Holds "Flawless" IRV Election

On Tuesday March 7, Burlington, VT became the first city in the U.S. in over 30 years to elect its mayor using instant runoff voting (IRV) in what Vermont media termed a "flawless" election.  In addition, FairVote's Caleb Kleppner has written a report on the Burlington election, the links can be found below.

After the first round of counting, no candidate garnered the required majority to win outright. Progressive candidate Bob Kiss received 39% of first choices, Democrat Hinda Miller 31%, and Republican Kevin Curley 26%. At this point an instant runoff kicked in. Curley and two other independent candidates were eliminated and their supporters' second choices counted. This gave Kiss enough votes to cross the majority threshold and win the race.

Voters found the system easy to use and understand, and almost no trouble with the balloting was reported. In fact, out of every 1,000 voters in the mayoral race, 999 cast a valid ballot. The Progressive Party has been active in Vermont politics for decades, and Burlington has elected several Progressive mayors in the past under the previous plurality system.

[ Read "IRV deemed a success" in the Burlington Free Press ]
[ Read an AP story on the election ]
[ More on IRV in Vermont ]
[ Read Caleb Kleppner's Report on Burlington's Election (.pdf/396 Kb) ]
[ Read Caleb Kleppner's Election Analysis (.xls/3.05 Mb) ]