The Gov. Gray Davis recall may cause some motion sickness, but in the long run it could cure a more serious political disease. California will learn that instant runoff voting isn't just an experiment in local elections, but a valuable system that we need statewide.

One hundred thirty-five Californians have qualified to run for governor. It isn't hard to imagine a winner with a laughable 10 percent "mandate." Hypothetically, a candidate could win with less than 1 percent. The door is wide open for a small but dedicated faction to invade the governor's office while advocating just about anything. Imagine a headline such as "New governor demands secession from union!" As wild as it sounds, it could happen in an election where any plurality will do.

The obvious solution is to hold a runoff so the public can eliminate all unacceptable candidates. Unfortunately, most people think that runoffs are not practical because of the time and costs for multiple election days.

But a few Bay Area communities have realized that runoffs don't have to be so impractical. A major breakthrough came last year when San Francisco passed Proposition A and accepted instant runoff voting for city elections.

IRV is an efficient system that produces a clear winner with a true majority. The process is fast and simple for voters and can save an election department millions of dollars normally spent on runoffs. Under IRV, voters simply rank their top few choices instead of choosing only one. Just like the current system, whoever gets the majority of first place votes is the winner.

If no candidate gets at least 50 percent of the first-place votes, however, the last place candidate is eliminated and the ballots are awarded to the premarked second choices. The process repeats until a real winner can be declared with a real majority. This is the exact same idea as a regular runoff, but it saves a staggering amount of time and money.

IRV is already working across the country and around the world. New York City uses IRV to elect community school boards, as do many areas in Vermont. Australia's House of Representatives, Ireland's president and London's mayor are all elected with IRV. Endorsements for the system range across the political spectrum, from former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean to U.S. Sen. John McCain. In San Francisco, IRV was endorsed by a host of parties: Democratic, Green, Reform, Labor and Libertarian. The American Political Science Association uses IRV to elect its officers and they should know a little bit about elections.

IRV could solve another big headache for California after the recall. Depending on who emerges as governor, some political leaders have already threatened to file another recall against a new governor. The main reason cited is that no candidate will be able to get a majority. IRV would solve that problem by narrowing the field and presenting a clear winner.

California isn't the only state that could use IRV. In New Mexico, IRV might unite a liberal majority that is divided between Democrats and Greens. Likewise in Alaska, the conservative vote could be softened by the undeclared and nonpartisan voters (more than 225,000 registered) who outweigh the Republicans and Democrats combined (less than 190,000 registered). And who can forget the 2000 presidential election in Florida? Ralph Nader took just enough votes from Al Gore to give George W. Bush all 27 electoral votes despite a narrow 48.8 percent plurality. With IRV, Gore might have won by a large enough margin to eliminate the recount debacle.

Back in California, IRV will keep us from using one problem to hide from another. Many have defended Davis by arguing that a recall would produce a governor with only a fraction of the vote. This type of argument is based on problems with the system. It has nothing to do with Davis' merits as governor. IRV will give us more options while allowing us to focus on real issues.

Adam Rose ([email protected]) is a student in the School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California and an editorial associate at Fightback.com .