2007 February 23 Archive at Progressive Wednesday

Instant Runoff Voting is a hit in Takoma Park

February 23rd, 2007 by Eric

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As you read this Wednesday while learning how to “fix– our elections, one of the possible solutions to the calamity that is our election process is Instant Runoff Voting. The short description is this: you rank the candidates in order of preference. If the candidate you ranked first isn't among the top two vote getters, your vote is then cast for the next in line. This process allows you to vote for a third party candidate without “wasting– your vote. You can get the long description here.

On Tuesday, January 30th the Instant Runoff Voting method was used to fill a vacant seat for city council in the 5th Ward in Takoma Park, Maryland. According to Fairvote.org:

The Takoma Park city council unanimously adopted IRV in 2006 after IRV earned the support of 84% of voters in a November 2005 advisory referendum. Voters appeared to be happy with the change.

But were there problems? Very few. The same report says that 99.5% of the votes that were cast were considered valid. Contributing to the success of the election was that

80% of respondents (knew) they would be asked to rank candidates for this election. According to an exit poll conducted by FairVote, voters also liked the new system, with 88% of respondents supporting IRV for local, state or national elections.

There are several other areas that have adopted this system or have plans to do so soon. “Where?– you ask?

It is used for local elections in San Francisco and Burlington (VT) and for overseas military voters in South Carolina, Arkansas and Louisiana. Minneapolis, Oakland and a number of cities and counties in North Carolina are all in the process of implementing IRV for use in the next few years.

It's popular, it's effective, and it's progressive. Of course, it’s not the only choice out there. Click this sentence for links to three other interesting choices. Let us know what you think (in the comments or through our Contact page) to help us decide which to support on future Wednesdays. Thanks!