Let All Parties Be Heard


By John C. Strawn
Published July 6th 2000 in  The Washington Post
E. J. Dionne Jr. acknowledges the valuable role of third parties but still wonders if they should be allowed into the presidential debates [op-ed, June 30]. This isn't rocket science. Why is it that we can put a man on the moon but can't come up with a way to elect our president that allows voters to vote for their favorite candidate, allows multiple candidates to run and present their issues and ensures that the winner has majority support? The real fault lies with our presidential election method (also used to elect our congressional and state legislatures), which allows a candidate to win whether he or she has majority support or not. It defies the principle of "majority rule." If we used a runoff election or an "instant runoff," which elects a majority winner in one round, the "spoiler" problem would go away.  Why not criticize our election method instead of the candidates?

IRV Soars in Twin Cities, FairVote Corrects the Pundits on Meaning of Election Night '09
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.

And as pundits try to make hay out of the national implications of Tuesday’s gubernatorial elections, Rob Richie in the Huffington Post concludes that the gubernatorial elections have little bearing on federal elections.

Links