37 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 24 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 8/15/08

Clearing the Barr to a majority president with instant runoff voting

By       (Page 1 of 1 pages)   15 comments
Message Rob Richie
This year former Republican Congressman Bob Barr has won the Libertarian Party's nomination for president and will appear on the ballot this November in nearly every state. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader will join him as an independent on most state ballots, while former Democratic Congresswoman and prominent African American leader Cynthia McKinney will represent the Green Party on dozens of state ballots.

Their candidacies point to an easily correctable flaw in our elections: we don't require candidates to win with a majority of the vote. Instead, states typically use "plurality voting" that allows the candidate with the most votes to take office even if opposed by a majority. Plurality voting makes it far harder to hold leaders accountable - and fails to accommodate voters having more choices. It means that every Member of Congress can win re-election even if strongly opposed by most voters, and every state this fall will awards its presidential electoral votes to candidates that most voters might have opposed.

In contrast, majority voting is the international norm for presidential elections. Most nations use two-round systems, with a runoff between the top two candidates if no candidate wins a majority of the first-round vote. Ireland uses instant runoff voting that simulates a runoff process in one trip to the polls by allowing voters to rank candidates in order of choice: first, second and third.

Plurality voting works fine when elections have only two choices. But it goes haywire when more candidates run - witness the hand-wringing over Ross Perot in 1992 and Ralph Nader in 2000.

We can expect more hand-wringing this year. In a recent Rasmussen Research poll, fully 10% of likely voters said they would vote for Bob Barr or Ralph Nader if matched against Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama. Republicans are fearful that Barr will split the majority vote in his home state of Georgia and close states like Nevada, while Nader and Cynthia McKinney together easily could split Democratic majorities.

Already some partisans are decrying their candidacies, but the fact is that most Americans prefer to have voter choice. They like voter participation. They want candidates to raise tough issues. They're fans of democracy, and choice, participation and vigorous debate are rather important conditions of it. We should welcome more perspectives and more opportunities to hold major party nominees accountable.

Intriguingly, two innovators willing to advance beyond plurality voting happen to be John McCain and Barack Obama. Obama was the lead sponsor of Illinois legislation to establish instant runoff voting for certain state elections, while McCain made a ringing endorsement of its adoption for state and federal elections in a 2002 ballot measure in Alaska. Not only that - Nader, Barr and McKinney also all have been outspoken advocates of instant runoff voting.

They can take comfort that their bold stance keeps demonstrating gaining popular support. Exit poll surveys in cities implementing IRV show strong voter enthusiasm, and it has won by landslide margins in a series of ballot measures in jurisdictions like Oakland (CA), Minneapolis (MN), Sarasota (FL), Santa Fe (NM) and Pierce County (WA).

Our elected leaders can't have it both ways. If they don't like "spoilers", they can adopt instant runoff voting or runoff elections by mere statute. If not, they must live with the consequences. I know which decision most Americans want them to make.
Rate It | View Ratings

Rob Richie Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

FairVote is a non-profit, non-partisan organization devoted to electoral reforms that respect every vote and ever voice. Signature proposals we have developed or advanced include proportional voting, instant runoff voting, ranked choice voting, the (more...)
 
Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

John Gideon, R.I.P. - and the "Gideon Initiative" for citizenship ownership of our elections

Democracy Lost: the Iowa Caucus, the New Hampshire Primary, and the Shortchanging of American Presidential Politics

Let's End Gerrymandering with Fair Voting for Congress

Remembering John Bayard Anderson, 1922 - 2017

Was the Iowa Caucuses' Real Winner Not in the Race?

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend