It was a good week for FairVote in the states. On May 27, Colorado
governor Bill Ritter signed HB 1378, a bill to allow all Colorado
municipalities and special districts to use instant runoff voting and
choice voting; FairVote's Rob Richie testied for two hours to the task
force that recommended the bill last year. In Illinois, the legislature
sent to the governor SF 439, a bill to allow municipalities to use IRV
ballots to improve voting rights for overseas voters like those serving
in the military.In Rhode Island the State Senate took two critical steps forward on the reform agenda of our FairVote Rhode Island group. It overwhelmingly passed advance voter registration and the National Popular Vote plan. Former US Senator Lincoln Chafee was a key backer of the NPV bill, which has now passed in 18 of our nation's 99 legislative chambers, while FairVote RI has brought together a broad coalition of civic groups to back advance voter registration. The House already passed advance registration, and a bill should go to the governor this year.
[FairVote Rhode Island]
[Colorado Voter Choice Task Force Report]
[Rob Richie's blog on RI wins]
[Include Every Voter on IRV ballots for overseas voters]
A city of nearly four million people, Los Angeles has taken giant strides toward putting instant runoff voting for city elections on the November 2008 ballot. The L.A. Chamber of Commerce and former Republican mayor Richard Riordan recently endorsed instant runoff voting, with the Chamber's press release saying: "IRV will save money for candidates, who can now spend all their resources on a single race focused on the merits of their platforms, rather than bashing opponents. This new campaign dynamic will bring new candidates and their issues into the local debate, leading to more competitive races for important local government posts."