A state lawmaker from Vancouver is pushing legislation that would create a new voting method in city elections, where voters choose not one but as many as three candidates for the same position.

Under a bill sponsored by Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, the city would become a testing ground for an election method called instant-runoff voting.

The bill, which lawmakers heard Tuesday, continues a five-year push by instant-runoff voting advocates to use the method in Vancouver's local nonpartisan elections, such as mayoral and City Council races.

Instead of making one choice, voters rank candidates in order of preference.

Moeller said he thinks the method would have made the winner in the recent gubernatorial election "crystal clear."

Skeptics of the bill say the method has flaws.

"I think most folks familiar with ranked voting schemes recognize that (instant runoff) isn't the optimal tabulation method," said state Rep. Toby Nixon, R-Kirkland. "Instant-runoff voting does allow for the introduction of some distortions into the process."

House Bill 1447 would let Vancouver and two other Washington cities have the option of launching an instant-runoff voting pilot project. Tacoma and Spokane would also be able to run the pilot project if they passed voter-approved amendments to their city charters, which Vancouver has already done.

The bill gives cities options, not requirements, Moeller emphasized at a hearing Tuesday of the House's State Government Operations and Accountability Committee.

"This gets the discussion going of, on the local level, whether they want to go that way or not," Moeller said. "It really is to provide them with the option, because without this bill they don't even have the option."

Under the legislation, the trial period would start in 2008 and end in 2013. The Secretary of State's Office supports the bill but does not promote instant-runoff voting as the most accurate method.

"Our office is a skeptic of instant-runoff voting, and we are not really an advocate of it," said Shane Hamlin, legislative liaison for the Office of the Secretary of State. "But, we understand that through the bill a program is laid out, and we will fully participate in that if that's the will of the Legislature and the city of Vancouver to move forward."

This is not the first time the idea has come before state lawmakers.

In 1999, Vancouver voters approved an amendment that gave the City Council the option, not a mandate, to establish instant-runoff voting.

The Secretary of State initially gave the city the go-ahead but later said Vancouver did not have the legal authority to use instant-runoff voting. As a result, the city drafted proposed changes to state law, said Mark Brown, lobbyist for Vancouver.

For the past four years, a bill to create an instant-runoff voting pilot project has been introduced to the Legislature. Last year, the legislation passed the House but not the Senate.

"This modern and dynamic election reform has been making strides nationally," said Taryn Gearhart, chairwoman of Instant Runoff Voting for Washington, a nonprofit formed last year.

She cited city elections in San Francisco last year when exit polls showed 67 percent of the voters found instant runoff easy to use, 18 percent difficult and 15 percent had no opinion. The method saved San Francisco $1.2 million in campaign costs, she said.

"IRV for Washington looks forward to the day when we can celebrate the success of this dynamic voting system in our own state," Gearhart said. "It is time to begin the proving ground here in the local nonpartisan elections."

Several other election reform ideas were aired at Tuesday's hearing, including one that would allow voters to select "none of the above" in the general elections.

In other legislative news:

State Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, introduced legislation last week that would require a teacher to surrender his or her teaching certificate if he or she is caught looking at pornography at school.

"We have an obligation to kids, parents and the overwhelming majority of wonderful teachers out there to keep kids safe," Benton said. "Word needs to go out -- if you are into pornography, you better do it at home or somewhere else. If you do it on school grounds, you are never going to teach in Washington again."

Also, state Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, is sponsoring a bill that would encourage the construction of tsunami-resistant structures.

The legislation would exempt engineering and construction companies from paying business and operation taxes when building tsunami-resistant emergency shelters.