By Eric Mendelson
Published September 27th 2005 in The Missoulian
The close results of our recent mayoral primary will leave many
frustrated voters and "if-only-I'd" voters. There is a better way:
instant runoff vote elections, a method Deborah Oberbillig proposed on
this page on Sept. 20. This method eliminates the need for primary
elections and has other advantages. How do I know? I co-led an IRV
special election in Ithaca, N.Y., a few years ago. It proved more
efficient and most of all, yielded a fairer representation of voters'
preferences. Also, voters in various locations who've rank-choice voted
(IRVs) usually want more IRV elections.
Standard American elections can offer reasonable results with two candidates. Less fair results often come with multiple candidates. Imagine an election with candidates getting similar numbers of votes: Candidate A getting 2,204 votes, B getting 2,206, C getting 2,211 votes and D 500. Let's picture an IRV feature: that voters got to cast their second choices, too, on their ballots. When no candidate receives an outright majority of first-choice votes, the lowest vote-getter is eliminated, and his voters' second choices get counted as votes for remaining candidates. If Candidate A in my hypothetical election was the second choice of 5,820 voters, an overwhelming majority, who'd better represent the will of the voters: A? Or would B and C?
If this were a standard election's primary, B and C would move on to the general election, repeating their whole campaigns (any wonder so many voters blow off primaries?) with Candidate A eliminated. Yet, I suggest that A might well turn out the clear voter preference were he or she included in the general election. A single IRV election would democratically provide a winner chosen by at least 50 percent of voters, not a pair of temporary winners from a plurality of the few primary voters. I endorse Oberbillig 's IRV idea to prevent another this-just-doesn't-seem-right election result. We voters and our next mayor deserve better.
Eric Mendelson, Missoula
Standard American elections can offer reasonable results with two candidates. Less fair results often come with multiple candidates. Imagine an election with candidates getting similar numbers of votes: Candidate A getting 2,204 votes, B getting 2,206, C getting 2,211 votes and D 500. Let's picture an IRV feature: that voters got to cast their second choices, too, on their ballots. When no candidate receives an outright majority of first-choice votes, the lowest vote-getter is eliminated, and his voters' second choices get counted as votes for remaining candidates. If Candidate A in my hypothetical election was the second choice of 5,820 voters, an overwhelming majority, who'd better represent the will of the voters: A? Or would B and C?
If this were a standard election's primary, B and C would move on to the general election, repeating their whole campaigns (any wonder so many voters blow off primaries?) with Candidate A eliminated. Yet, I suggest that A might well turn out the clear voter preference were he or she included in the general election. A single IRV election would democratically provide a winner chosen by at least 50 percent of voters, not a pair of temporary winners from a plurality of the few primary voters. I endorse Oberbillig 's IRV idea to prevent another this-just-doesn't-seem-right election result. We voters and our next mayor deserve better.
Eric Mendelson, Missoula
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.