By David Ammons
Published February 28th 2001 in The Colombian
A bipartisan group of senators says that when it comes to overhauling Washington's elections, IRV may know best.
IRV, as in instant runoff voting.
That system, currently used in Australia and other countries, would eliminate the need for primaries or runoffs by allowing voters to pick their top choice for each office, along with a rank order for the rest of the candidates.
All of the first-place votes would be tallied, and if no one had a majority, the last-place candidate would be eliminated and his or her votes redistributed according to voters' rankings of the candidates.
This instant runoff process would continue until the computers showed someone with more than 50 percent.
It sounds complicated, but it's no different from the way Major League Baseball's best valuable player is selected, says Sen. Bill Finkbeiner, R-Kirkland.
Senate Bill 5338 is sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Adam Kline, D-Seattle, and co-sponsored by Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, and Finkbeiner.
The new system would be used for picking the Legislature, the state's delegation in Congress, president and the state judiciary. The statewide executive positions, including governor, would continue to be elected under the old system.
Cities and counties would be allowed to adopt a similar IRV process.
Kline said the proposal would eliminate "spoiler" candidates and make sure that officeholders are elected with at least 50 percent of the vote.
ON THE WEB
Legislature:
www.leg.wa.gov
Coalition for IRV:
http://www.fairvote.org
IRV, as in instant runoff voting.
That system, currently used in Australia and other countries, would eliminate the need for primaries or runoffs by allowing voters to pick their top choice for each office, along with a rank order for the rest of the candidates.
All of the first-place votes would be tallied, and if no one had a majority, the last-place candidate would be eliminated and his or her votes redistributed according to voters' rankings of the candidates.
This instant runoff process would continue until the computers showed someone with more than 50 percent.
It sounds complicated, but it's no different from the way Major League Baseball's best valuable player is selected, says Sen. Bill Finkbeiner, R-Kirkland.
Senate Bill 5338 is sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Adam Kline, D-Seattle, and co-sponsored by Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, and Finkbeiner.
The new system would be used for picking the Legislature, the state's delegation in Congress, president and the state judiciary. The statewide executive positions, including governor, would continue to be elected under the old system.
Cities and counties would be allowed to adopt a similar IRV process.
Kline said the proposal would eliminate "spoiler" candidates and make sure that officeholders are elected with at least 50 percent of the vote.
ON THE WEB
Legislature:
www.leg.wa.gov
Coalition for IRV:
http://www.fairvote.org
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.