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
This is the first time I have heard it explained this way. My understanding was that a vote was cast for the ones you wanted in a ranking.
Then for each #1 vote, in your sample case, would get 4 points, each #2 would get 3, each #3 would get 2, each #4 would get 1 point.
The highest point getter would be declared the winner. The reason it was explained to me this way was because then you could really add power to your vote. By voting for only 1 or 2 candidates you would deny points to those you really dislike, reducing their overall number of points and likelyhood of them winning the election.
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Sincerely,
John Birrenbach
W 7th Neighborhood, St Paul MN
=== Political & Business Consulting ===
http://www.birrenbach.com/
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"Six years on the council has trained me to feign interest for long periods of time"
Chris Coleman Jan 21, 2004
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Unless it is something you think I will find funny don't reply personally, if it's relevant to a post I made then post it to the list for everyone to see. I have no problem being challenged in public. Challenge me in private and you take your chances.
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