Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation

Instant runoff voting (IRV) lets voters rank their choices of candidates. If no first-choice candidate exceeds 50% of the votes, the lowest-ranked candidate drops off, the votes of persons who had chosen that candidate are redistributed to their second-choice candidate, and the process repeats with the next lowest-ranked candidate dropping off until one candidate emerges with more than 50% of the votes. IRV allows each voter to vote for whom they want, rather than “the lesser of two evils,” and it eliminates the cumbersome primary election by letting IRV sort out the voters’ preferences during the general election. In November 2007 a whopping 77% of voters in Aspen CO and 78% in Sarasota FL chose to begin using IRV. In Pierce County WA 65% of voters chose a county charter amendment to keep IRV on track for the hotly contested 2008 county executive race. Clallam County WA’s voters narrowly rejected establishing IRV as an option in their county charter. Several cities successfully held ranked voting elections. San Francisco CA held its fourth IRV election overall, and its first for mayor, with first-round winners in three citywide races. Takoma Park MD smoothly held its first IRV election for mayor, without any spoiled ballots. The city of Hendersonville NC, following in the footsteps of Cary NC in using IRV this fall, had a strong first IRV election for two city council seats. Info: www.FairVote.org.