Instant Runoff Voting (IRV is a different way of voting which allows the voter to rank candidates instead of voting for a single candidate.  By doing so, the winning candidate must have a majority of the vote and the so-called "spoiler effect" of third party candidates is eliminated.

The American political system developed as the world's first democratic political system. The nations founders used the only voting system known at that time, plurality voting (whoever gets the most votes, wins. That person may not have a majority, only the greatest number of votes) . Many advances in democratic voting have been invented since then with results which are more representative of the desires of the people. America has not kept pace with these steps which furthered the democratic voice and is now stuck with an antiquated system virtually guaranteeing a two party doupoly. The two party system functions to limit the number and variety of voices heard.

Instant Runoff Voting addresses problems of plurality voting.

• In plurality voting the winner may not have a majority of votes. IRV requires that the winner of an election have a majority of the votes cast. The winner must have at least 50% plus 1 vote.
• In plurality voting third party candidates are regarded as spoilers. Third party candidates are said to "steal" votes away from major party candidate and said to spoil the chance of winning by major party candidates. In the highly contentious 2000 Presidential election, Ralph Nader, running as the Green Party candidate, was charged with causing the lose by Al Gore, the Democratic Party candidate, because voters who might have voted for Al Gore instead voted for Ralph Nader. The candidate least liked by both the Greens and the Democrats became president and these two most likely allies in that election fought among themselves instead of with their common opponent, the Republican candidate, George W. Bush. IRV allows voters to rank their preference among candidates and eliminates this spoiler effect.
• In plurality voting, elections focus on contests between personalities instead of on issues. When IRV is used, mud slinging is lessened . Candidates must try to craft their campaigns to be attractive to voters of other parties and are therefore less likely to attack personalities but instead focus on issues. In recent elections in Burlington, Vermont, one candidate even endorsed another candidate saying he endorsed one of his opponents as the second choice.

In addition to these benefit, IRV encourages more people to run for office and because of the greater variety of opinions and candidates encourages greater voter turnout.

How does Instant Runoff Voting work?

All candidates for a office are listed on the ballot. The voter is asked to rank the candidates in order of preference:

In this example, the voter's first choice is the Green Party candidate followed by the Democrat and then followed by the Liberal Party candidate. This voter does not want either the Republican or the Libertarian. Note that the voter does not need to rank the candidates and could have voted for just a single candidate.

All the votes for each candidate are tallied and the candidate, assuming that no one has a majority of the votes, with the least number of votes is eliminated. In our example lets say that is the Libertarian candidate. Our above voter did not rank the Libertarian, so this ballot is not affected. Those who did choose the Libertarian will have their votes moved from their first choice to their second choice and the votes are tallied again.

In this next round, lets say that the Green Party candidate had the least number of votes. The Green Party candidate is eliminated and votes for that candidate are moved to those individuals voters second choice. In the example above, our voter's vote would be transferred to the Democrat.

This process continues until one candidate has a majority of the votes and is declared the winner.

(Vote counting flow chart)

IRV Talking Points (copied from the Fair Vote Web site (http://www.fairvote.org/irv/talking.htm)

• Ensures majority rule, in contrast to plurality voting.
• Saves money compared to costly two-round runoff elections, which often have low voter turnout.
• Increases voter turnout by giving voters better choices. Experience around the world shows that voter turnout goes up when voters have a wider range of choices.
• Promotes positive, issue-based campaigns because candidates will seek 2nd and 3rd choice votes.
• Creates a clearer mandate for a winning candidate’s agenda, giving better direction for policy-making.
• Solves the problem of groupings of voters splitting their votes among similar candidates, which allows a candidate with only minority support to win.
• Minimizes "wasted" votes, votes that don’t help elect a winner. To the fullest extent possible, your vote will contribute to electing a candidate that you like.

Instant Runoff Voting is a better way to vote!

More information at

• FairVote (The Center for Voting and Democracy) http://www.fairvote.org/?page=19 especially look at the Resources link
• Midwest Democracy Center http://www.instantrunoff.com/ a Chicago-based non-profit organization dedicated to making our government more democratic and representative.
• An interactive guide to how IRV works http://www.chrisgates.net/irv/
• Who uses IRV? http://www.fairvote.org/?page=851
• Talking points for IRV http://www.fairvote.org/irv/talking.htm
• Washington state legislature authorized the use of IRV in certain cities http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2005-06/Pdf/Bills/Session%20Law%202005/1447.SL.pdf
• Success for Instant Runoff Voting in San Francisco http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0112-23.htm

IRV in the news:

• 10-15-07 Study Finds Cary Voters Prefer Instant Run-Off Voting
• 9-30-04. NY Times, New Voting System has rival candidates cooperating.

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