Yes on Referenda 2E


By Hilary Stunda
Published November 4th 2007 in Aspen Times
Dear Editor:

You can count on me to be one of the many voters giving a big yes to Referendum 2E on Tuesday. Referendum E will mean that our city officials need to win with a majority of 50 percent plus one, not 45 percent of the vote. It also means that we will replace two rounds of voting with one instant runoff election.

I'm expecting Referendum E to get a big yes vote. My brother in-law lives in Takoma Park, Md., where they voted 84 percent for instant runoff voting, and an exit poll in its first election found that an even higher percentage people liking it after voting with it.

One of the things I like about instant runoff voting is that it frees you to vote without worrying about splitting the vote -- you can vote exactly the way you want to vote without someone suggesting your first choice is a spoiler. For the curious, you can find out more at www.instantrunoff.com and www.fairvote.org

Hilary Stunda
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.

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