Jeanne Massey said:
The mayoral race this year underscores the value of IRV - Instant Runoff
Voting - which would eliminate the low-turn out primary runoff and allow
voters to rank the candidates in order of preference at the higher turn-out
general election.
Despite the enthusiasm for IRV in some quarters, I'd again state that
there is an obvious flaw that the proponents are ignoring. The
proponents clearly assume that everyone who votes in an IRV election
would find multiple candidates acceptable and it would be merely a
matter of providing the order of preference. And then, with everyone
providing their preferences, "voila!", by the miracle of mathematics, we
have a winner.
But I would state that I, and perhaps a very high majority of voters,
would only find one candidate acceptable and would not vote for any
beyond my first-place pick. I would do so because I don't find the
political philosophies or opinions of other candidates acceptable on any
level. I don't want my vote going to any of the others even if my
candidate finishes a miserable fifth in the election. I believe that
any voter who seriously compares most candidates in an election would
come to the same conclusion. So, what happens then in an IRV election
if, say, 90% of the voters only vote for their first choice? Well,
apparently those 10% of the voters who don't see "a dimes worth of
difference" between candidates would decide the election. And, I'd
argue, that those 10% who would decide the race are probably the most
ill-informed voters in the election.
Even if it turns out that 90% of the voters would be willing to vote for
a second or third choice, I'd still argue that when voters don't see
much difference in the candidates so that they don't reject some
candidates but just assign a priority are still not making an informed
decision.
And if my particular party happened to have, say, three candidates, the
voters for any those candidates would split their votes enabling a
single candidate of another party whose supporters bullet-voted to win
in a walk combining IRV elections with strong party discipline.
And anyone who currently supports a third party should recognize that
IRV elections is really just a ruse to artificially recapture your vote
for one of the two major parties.
IRV elections is a bad idea.
Steve Cross
Prospect Park
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