Cure for Low Turnout


By John Anderson
Published October 29th 2002 in New York Times

In assessing this year's Congressional elections (Week in Review, Oct. 27), you conclude that we should again expect low voter turnout because the major political parties increasingly mimic each other during campaigns, "giving voters a choice between beige and brown."

Events since my independent presidential campaign in 1980 have only reinforced my belief in the need to reform politics to expand viable choices across the spectrum. As long as we have two-choice, winner-take-all elections where the winner must be all things to at least half the people, today's marketing technology and expertise will make most campaigns a distasteful concoction of poll-driven sound bites, negative attacks and avoidance of important issues.

It's time to adopt instant runoff voting to give independents and alternative parties a chance to compete without being "spoilers," and time to begin a national dialogue about the many forms of proportional representation, in which political minorities can win a fair share of legislative seats.

John B. Anderson
President, Center for Voting and Democracy
Takoma Park, Md., Oct. 28, 2002

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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