Instant Runoff

By MICHAEL AUMACK
Published September 6th 2008 in Wichita Eagle
Voters would be a lot more engaged in our elections if they felt they had more viable choices and could vote for candidates they feel represent their concerns and wishes. Most voters are tied between the "lesser of two evils," and vote their fears rather than their dreams when they step into the voting booth.

A simple solution is to implement instant-runoff voting. IRV is a simple voting method in which voters can rank their choices in order of preference. The top vote getter only wins if he receives a majority of the votes. If he doesn't, then the candidates who are ranked lowest are eliminated and the votes are re-tallied until there is a majority winner.

I would like to see a series of articles about IRV that help educate readers about the benefits of this system and cite the towns, cities and states that are implementing it all over the country.

MICHAEL AUMACK

Wichita
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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