By Brad Kane
Published June 20th 2007 in Naples Daily News
The Bonita Springs City Council this morning decided to hold on an idea to revamp its election process where voters rank candidates, waiting for the results of a similar provision in Sarasota.
Under the proposal made by Councilwoman Martha Simons, in a system called Instant Runoff Voting, voters would rank candidates in multi-person races instead of simply choosing one. Instant Runoff Voting eliminates the need to for cities to have runoff elections, and winners are chosen based on the rankings.
Simons proposed putting the system in Bonita's charter because she thought it would force the Florida Legislature to adopt the technology for such voting, which is not available to anyone. If the council would have modified the charter, it simply would have said Bonita voters would start using the technology when it became available.
The council decided not to change the charter. The members are going to wait to see what voters in Sarasota decide when they face a referendum issue on their November ballot.
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.