Instant Runoff Voting

Lost in all the furor over the gubernatorial ballot recount (and re-recount) is the simple fact that the eventual winner may well not be the preferred candidate of the majority of Washington State voters. Three parties were represented on this years ballot: Democrat, Republican, and Libertarian. Unfortunately, our current election system is not equipped to adequately handle more than two parties. The vote is split nearly dead even between the two major parties, but over 63,000 voters (2.26%) selected Ruth Bennett of the Libertarian party as their prime choice. Given their preferred candidate was eliminated, whom would these voters favor for office? Our current electoral system cannot provide an answer.

An Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) system would ensure that the individual who is sworn into office is the person most favored by the electorate. The IRV system simply allows voters to indicate who their second and third choice of candidate would be if their preferred choice is eliminated. IRV is compatible with current voting machines and requires only a single counting of ballots. Vote-splitting (the drawing off of votes from a major party by a third party) is avoided, and a more accurate determination of the peoples will is made.

Instituting Instant Runoff Voting is a crucial, and relatively easy first step in reforming our archaic voting system. An IRV ballot initiative is in the works for the new year, and this largely un-funded, grassroots movement needs support. Readers can learn more at www.IRVWA.org.

Mark Woods, Federal Way, WA