02/02/02 - FWD - WA State IRV bill hearing to be webcast: ----------- Forwarded Letter ------------- To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "brentalanwhite" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 16:57:42 -0000 Subject: [instantrunoff] WA State IRV bill hearing to be webcast
Hi Folks, Our IRV bills are making progress here in the Evergreen State! We have three bills introduced for IRV, and two bills making their way rapidly through the process to phase out punch cards. SB 6322 / HB 2335 to decertify punch-card voting machines were introduced at the request of our Republican Secretary of State, and are receiving solid Democratic support. (The Democrats have a one- vote margin in both houses, and the governorship.) SB 6345 would allow cities to do IRV. Some charter cities are already allowed to do so, but there are disagreements among lawyers about whether all of them are allowed to do so. The bill has the full backing of the City of Vancouver, where a brilliant campaign by John Gear got the voters of that city to adopt IRV as an option. The bill has four Democratic and three Republican sponsors. SB 6562 / HB 2698 would implement IRV in partisan general elections. SB 6562 has five Republican and two Democratic sponsors. HB 2698 is our first full-scale IRV bill to be introduced in the House, and has a Democratic and Republican sponsor. These bills were written to only affect the general election because no legislator wants to touch our overwhelmingly popular blanket primary. The State Democratic and Republican committees are suing to have the blanket primary declared unconstitutional. Some legislators are using the case as an excuse to not consider any election bills, and then react hastily when the blanket primary is thrown out, by quickly passing the Louisiana Primary (in which the top two candidates advance, regardless of party affiliation). They have the votes, so our job is to pre-empt them, lest we lose our leverage to ever get IRV passed in Washington State. HB 2698 is scheduled for a hearing next Thursday, February 7. The hearing will be webcast on TVW (http://www.tvw.org/media/housecmtes.cfm?) The hearing starts at 6:00 pm PST (9:00 pm EST). Keep up the great work, everyone, everywhere! Best, Brent White Coordinator, The Coalition for Instant Runoff Voting in Washington 17544 Midvale Ave N Ste 107 Shoreline, WA 98133 206-977-0450 ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Get your FREE credit report with a FREE CreditCheck Monitoring Service trial http://us.click.yahoo.com/ACHqaB/bQ8CAA/ySSFAA/YgSolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Kill the 'wasted vote' syndrome by ranking candidates (1, 2, 3) and requiring a majority of votes to win. Help end plurality elections. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a small note to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more information: www.fairvote.org, www.midwestdemocracy.org, www.instantrunoff.com MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT! (Take five minutes every day for some IRV activism -- we'll only get better elections with your persistent, patient work. Word-of-mouth is your most powerful political weapon: use it!) Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
