Recent letters to The Denver Post have advocated not voting this fall because big money controls both majority parties. While that is true, not voting will only make a bad situation worse. And voting for minor-party candidates or independents essentially wastes your vote.

There is a sensible and effective way to avoid this by adopting "instant runoff" elections. This procedure, currently used in many places, allows the voter to pick a first, second and third choice. If a candidate receives a plurality of the first-choice votes, they win. If not, then the second-choice votes are counted, and possibly the third, until someone receives a majority in the instant runoff.

This very democratic method allows one to vote for a minority-party candidate who has an appealing platform, but still vote for the Republican or Democrat candidate. This system encourages people to go to the polls, to promote their viewpoints, and still vote for the major candidate whose political philosophy is closest to their own. It has no significant disadvantages and can also save money by avoiding expensive and unnecessary conventional runoff elections. Let's take back our democracy. Go vote this fall - three times.