Instant runoff voting

By Mary Lindsay
Published July 26th 2007 in Kansas City Star
In “Two-party system warps our democracy” (7/21, Opinion) Midwest Voices columnist Bob Keith Bonebrake bemoans our political system, in which many citizens vote for candidates they dislike the least because voting for candidates outside the Democratic or Republican parties seems equivalent to not voting at all.

There is an alternative system. Instant runoff voting lets people vote their consciences. Voters rank candidates in order of preference. If a candidate wins a majority of first-choice votes, he or she wins.

If no candidate receives a majority of first-place ballots, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated, and the votes cast for that candidate are credited to the candidates according to those voters’ second choices.

Instant runoff voting frees minor-party candidates from a “spoiler” role, allows voters to express their honest preferences and ensures a majority winner. It offers a chance to break the stranglehold the two dominant parties have on our political process.

Mary Lindsay
ReclaimDemocracy.org,
Kansas City area chapter
Kansas City
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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