http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/TomW/4318 Originally posted at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middleamerican/&nbsp; Instant run-off voting is an idea that is gaining traction across the country as a way to breathe some life back into our political system.&nbsp; So many people believe that their vote is wasted, that they have to vote for one of the two major parties, that there are no candidates that represent them.&nbsp; Instant Run-off Voting (IRV) could solve these problems and help us to get the government that is supported by the majority. Here&rsquo;s how it works:&nbsp; When you go to vote or vote from home, rather than choosing your candidate, you rank as many or as few candidates as you want in order of preference.&nbsp; When all the votes are in, the votes for the candidates ranked #1 are tallied just like a regular ballot.&nbsp; If no candidate gets 50%, the people who voted for the candidate with the least number of votes get their number two choice added to the count and their #1 candidate is removed.&nbsp; If that doesn&rsquo;t give a candidate with over 50%, another round is added where the people who voted for the new least popular candidate get their #2 votes added to the tally and their number #1 choice is dropped.&nbsp; Here&rsquo;s an example: There are 4 candidates and 100 voters.&nbsp; The candidates are Bill, Ann, Mike and Mary.&nbsp; The first round of voting looks like this: Bill: 30 Ann: 10 Mike: 32 Mary: 28 So after the first round, we eliminate the votes for Ann.&nbsp; Three people chose Bill as their second choice, the rest chose Mary.&nbsp; Round Two looks like this: Bill: 33 Mike: 32 Mary: 35 Even though Mike was the most popular in the first round, he is eliminated in the second, but since there is still no winner, we need to do a third round with Mike out.&nbsp; 10 of his votes go to Mary, while the remainders go to Bill. Bill: 55 Mary: 45 &nbsp;Now we have a consensus candidate. There are a number of other benefits to this system, including getting rid of the spoiler effect and the elimination of primaries which limits the campaign season and keeps costs down. More info at:&nbsp; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting http://www.fairvote.org/irv/ http://www.instantrunoff.com And a cool animation walkthrough here: http://www.chrisgates.net/irv/ Originally posted at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/middleamerican/&nbsp; Instant run-off voting is an idea that is gaining traction across the country as a way to breathe some life back into our political system.&nbsp; So many people believe that their vote is wasted, that they have to vote for one of the two major parties, that there are no candidates that represent them.&nbsp; Instant Run-off Voting (IRV) could solve these problems and help us to get the government that is supported by the majority. Here&rsquo;s how it works:&nbsp; When you go to vote or vote from home, rather than choosing your candidate, you rank as many or as few candidates as you want in order of preference.&nbsp; When all the votes are in, the votes for the candidates ranked #1 are tallied just like a regular ballot.&nbsp; If no candidate gets 50%, the people who voted for the candidate with the least number of votes get their number two choice added to the count and their #1 candidate is removed.&nbsp; If that doesn&rsquo;t give a candidate with over 50%, another round is added where the people who voted for the new least popular candidate get their #2 votes added to the tally and their number #1 choice is dropped.&nbsp; Here&rsquo;s an example: There are 4 candidates and 100 voters.&nbsp; The candidates are Bill, Ann, Mike and Mary.&nbsp; The first round of voting looks like this: Bill: 30 Ann: 10 Mike: 32 Mary: 28 So after the first round, we eliminate the votes for Ann.&nbsp; Three people chose Bill as their second choice, the rest chose Mary.&nbsp; Round Two looks like this: Bill: 33 Mike: 32 Mary: 35 Even though Mike was the most popular in the first round, he is eliminated in the second, but since there is still no winner, we need to do a third round with Mike out.&nbsp; 10 of his votes go to Mary, while the remainders go to Bill. Bill: 55 Mary: 45 &nbsp;Now we have a consensus candidate. There are a number of other benefits to this system, including getting rid of the spoiler effect and the elimination of primaries which limits the campaign season and keeps costs down. More info at:&nbsp; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting http://www.fairvote.org/irv/ http://www.instantrunoff.com And a cool animation walkthrough here: http://www.chrisgates.net/irv/ en-us Not your typical party issue, but I think elections like these would help connect the politicians to the voters by knowing the leanings of the voters who supported them.&nbsp; You'd also see a surge in 3rd parties without the negative consequence of spoilers, which could lead to better coalitions. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/TomW/4318/#c_43576 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/TomW/4318/#c_43576 Not your typical party issue, but I think elections like these would help connect the politicians to the voters by knowing the leanings of the voters who supported them.&nbsp; You'd also see a surge in 3rd parties without the negative consequence of spoilers, which could lead to better coalitions. Which is precisely why we will <strong>never</strong> see a system like this. You can't ask the two parties to give up their power. You have to force it from them by popular referendum. It is a great idea, and one that can take the place of the electoral college. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/TomW/4318/#c_43609 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/TomW/4318/#c_43609 Which is precisely why we will <strong>never</strong> see a system like this. You can't ask the two parties to give up their power. You have to force it from them by popular referendum. It is a great idea, and one that can take the place of the electoral college. I think there is a possibility of moving it through the regular channels rather than via ballot initiative.&nbsp; Each of the two major parties believe that they would have a majority of popular support if everyone voted.&nbsp; The Green Party and the Libertarian Party stand to gain.&nbsp; The religious groups, both conservative and liberal, could run candidates without fear of a spoiler effect.<br /> <br /> If you got the Green Party and the Christian coalition to back this, it might make it hard for politicians to say no. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/TomW/4318/#c_43612 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/TomW/4318/#c_43612 I think there is a possibility of moving it through the regular channels rather than via ballot initiative.&nbsp; Each of the two major parties believe that they would have a majority of popular support if everyone voted.&nbsp; The Green Party and the Libertarian Party stand to gain.&nbsp; The religious groups, both conservative and liberal, could run candidates without fear of a spoiler effect.<br /> <br /> If you got the Green Party and the Christian coalition to back this, it might make it hard for politicians to say no. The Republican party doesn't believe that. They would be the biggest losers if it was truly a &quot;majority&quot; rule country. Why else would they try to remove voters from rolls and have such a sorted history of voter disenfranchisement? The Greens have been pushing for this for at least a decade, to remove their &quot;spoiler&quot; stigma. The best chance of this passing was in 1992, but there's no way we could have this today. Asking the two parties to give up any power is like asking a fat kid to drop a bag of Twinkies. Ain't gonna happen; not no way, not no how..... http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/TomW/4318/#c_43621 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/TomW/4318/#c_43621 The Republican party doesn't believe that. They would be the biggest losers if it was truly a &quot;majority&quot; rule country. Why else would they try to remove voters from rolls and have such a sorted history of voter disenfranchisement? The Greens have been pushing for this for at least a decade, to remove their &quot;spoiler&quot; stigma. The best chance of this passing was in 1992, but there's no way we could have this today. Asking the two parties to give up any power is like asking a fat kid to drop a bag of Twinkies. Ain't gonna happen; not no way, not no how..... Well, I think we try it on the ballot then.&nbsp; We could get it set up in CA if the Democratic State Legislature decided that it would be to their benefit.&nbsp; San Francisco has had it for a while and Oakland just passed it. http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/TomW/4318/#c_43624 http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/TomW/4318/#c_43624 Well, I think we try it on the ballot then.&nbsp; We could get it set up in CA if the Democratic State Legislature decided that it would be to their benefit.&nbsp; San Francisco has had it for a while and Oakland just passed it.