> [Original Message] > From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Actually I am not certain where Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) grew out of a > discussion of the Mayor and his endorsement of Mr. Bush. But since it did I > would like to encourage a discussion of it in context of municipal elections in > Saint Paul.
Well, thank goodness something grew out of that, John, and thank you for noticing. It grew because of my own confusion about the endorsement/nomination process for these quasi-non-partisan municipal elections. IRV would certainly eliminate the need for the enormous redundancy of a non-partisan, run-off primary a month before the general election. That sounds to me like a pretty big tax savings. For those who aren't familiar, Instant Runoff Voting allows voters to record their preference for any number of candidates in a race by numerical ranking rather than forcing them to choose one out of a large field. For example, in the 2001 St. Paul mayoral race, I could have voted this way with IRV: 1.Honey Marvin Hervey, 2.Sharon Lea Anderson, 3. Jay Benanav 4. Randy C. Kelly. As my top choices (Hervey and Anderson) are eliminated from the race, my vote is recorded for my next numerical choice (Benanav). In a race where more people prefer Benanav to Kelly, regardless of first choices, Benanav would win. The candidate preferred by most people wins. Am I being "too" democratic here? No "wasted" votes, AND no need for a preliminary, "non-partisan", runoff primary. The system has worked in Australia's national elections since 1919 where it's called "preferential voting". http://accuratedemocracy.com/c_irv.htm AccuPoll, the company that has supplied HAVA-compliant, vefiable paper record, touch screen voting systems to WV, AR, OH, UT, SD, is about to bring out a new product called "Balboa" that accomodates IRV. Here's a link (apologies for the excessive line length) to the news release if anyone's interested in reassembling it to eliminate the line break. http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_vie w&newsId=20040804005274&newsLang=en If someone can think of a cheaper, more representative method, please let us all know. - Guy Western the West Side (today, the mayoral election; tomorrow, the electoral college) _____________________________________________ To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
