By Martin Wisckol
Published December 26th 2003 in Orange County Register
Not only are there at least two proposals in the Legislature for the state to adopt "instant runoff" voting, but there is an organization devoted to it - Californians for Electoral Reform, www.fairvoteca.org.
The system, which Australia uses to elect its legislators and Ireland uses to elect its president, requires the winner to receive a majority of votes. First, second and third choices are cast by each voter. If there is not a majority winner, the lowest vote-getter is tossed out. Voters whose first choice has been eliminated then have their second choice used - and so on, until there is a majority winner. The idea was touted by Green Party candidate Peter Camejo during the recall election Oct. 7.
The electoral reform group's vice president, Casey Peters, says his group is unlikely to get enough signatures this year to put its instant runoff measure on the ballot, but rather are using an initiative petition as an educational tool on the process. He answered these questions:
Q. Why is the instant runoff system better than what we have now?
A. The point is, No. 1, both Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gov. Gray Davis were elected with less than 50 percent of the vote. That raises issues about their credibility as leader of our state. With instant runoffs, they would have to have a majority to get into office. ... Before Schwarzenegger got into the recall, there was speculation the newly elected governor might have as little as 15 percent of the vote.
Q. It's been said that the system encourages voters to cast ballots for third-party candidates. How so?
A. You can cast your ballot for the candidate you like best regardless of their chance of winning. You don't have to worry about the spoiler effect that (Ralph) Nader's been accused of so much and (Ross) Perot before that. And you can be assured that your ballot is effective in helping to be elected.
Q. Any indication that your proposal will catch on with California voters?
A: We've been doing a lot of our work on the local level so far, and San Francisco adopted it last year for future municipal elections. It will be on the ballot in Berkeley in this next election, and several other cities are looking into it.
The system, which Australia uses to elect its legislators and Ireland uses to elect its president, requires the winner to receive a majority of votes. First, second and third choices are cast by each voter. If there is not a majority winner, the lowest vote-getter is tossed out. Voters whose first choice has been eliminated then have their second choice used - and so on, until there is a majority winner. The idea was touted by Green Party candidate Peter Camejo during the recall election Oct. 7.
The electoral reform group's vice president, Casey Peters, says his group is unlikely to get enough signatures this year to put its instant runoff measure on the ballot, but rather are using an initiative petition as an educational tool on the process. He answered these questions:
Q. Why is the instant runoff system better than what we have now?
A. The point is, No. 1, both Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gov. Gray Davis were elected with less than 50 percent of the vote. That raises issues about their credibility as leader of our state. With instant runoffs, they would have to have a majority to get into office. ... Before Schwarzenegger got into the recall, there was speculation the newly elected governor might have as little as 15 percent of the vote.
Q. It's been said that the system encourages voters to cast ballots for third-party candidates. How so?
A. You can cast your ballot for the candidate you like best regardless of their chance of winning. You don't have to worry about the spoiler effect that (Ralph) Nader's been accused of so much and (Ross) Perot before that. And you can be assured that your ballot is effective in helping to be elected.
Q. Any indication that your proposal will catch on with California voters?
A: We've been doing a lot of our work on the local level so far, and San Francisco adopted it last year for future municipal elections. It will be on the ballot in Berkeley in this next election, and several other cities are looking into it.
