The sponsor of a proposed initiative to create "instant runoff" elections in Montana has withdrawn the measure, the secretary of state's office said Monday.
In a letter to Secretary of State Bob Brown, Matthew Singer of Billings said he wanted "to prevent ballot confusion resulting from an overabundance of ballot issues" for the 2002 election, a press release from Brown's office said.
Five measures have qualified for the 2002 ballot, and another eight are pending. One was rejected by the attorney general and three, including Singer's, have been withdrawn.
Singer's proposal would have asked voters to rank several choices when voting for state or federal offices with more than three candidates, rather than simply voting for one candidate.
If no candidate received more than 50 percent of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes would be dropped. Votes from voters who picked the dropped candidate as their first choice would then go to the voters' second-choice candidates, and the process would continue until one candidate had more than 50 percent support.
Similar proposals are being considered in other states.
In a letter to Secretary of State Bob Brown, Matthew Singer of Billings said he wanted "to prevent ballot confusion resulting from an overabundance of ballot issues" for the 2002 election, a press release from Brown's office said.
Five measures have qualified for the 2002 ballot, and another eight are pending. One was rejected by the attorney general and three, including Singer's, have been withdrawn.
Singer's proposal would have asked voters to rank several choices when voting for state or federal offices with more than three candidates, rather than simply voting for one candidate.
If no candidate received more than 50 percent of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes would be dropped. Votes from voters who picked the dropped candidate as their first choice would then go to the voters' second-choice candidates, and the process would continue until one candidate had more than 50 percent support.
Similar proposals are being considered in other states.
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.