By Ryan Dunning
Published February 10th 2003 in Fresno Bee
I would like to congratulate Fresno City Council Members Tom Boyajian
and Jerry Duncan for suggesting the use of Instant Runoff Voting as a
way to increase voter turnout in Fresno. This method of election allows
voters to rank the candidates in their order of preference. If none of
the candidates receives a majority of the first-choice votes, the
candidate who would win a runoff is then determined by counting the
second, third and so on, choices of the voters. Thus winners are
determined at one election -- no runoff needed.
This means that the election of council members and mayor could be taken care of at the November election when voter turnout is highest. Furthermore, the ridiculously long campaign period would be shortened by eight months, making campaigning easier for candidates time-wise and financially (campaign finance reformers take note!).
Because Fresno is a charter city and Fresno County uses Diebold optical
scanners, Instant Runoff Voting is both legally and technically possible.
Anyone interested should contact Fresnans for Electoral Reform at
[email protected]
This means that the election of council members and mayor could be taken care of at the November election when voter turnout is highest. Furthermore, the ridiculously long campaign period would be shortened by eight months, making campaigning easier for candidates time-wise and financially (campaign finance reformers take note!).
Because Fresno is a charter city and Fresno County uses Diebold optical
scanners, Instant Runoff Voting is both legally and technically possible.
Anyone interested should contact Fresnans for Electoral Reform at
[email protected]
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.