Ralph Nader's candidacy in the last Presidential election sent a lot of venom our way, but it can be a golden opportunity for the electoral reforms that the Green Party has advocated for years. One of these, Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), is a simple-to-understand solution to the 3rd party "spoiler" problem.

IRV works exactly like a regular runoff system (as seen in last year's elections in San Francisco), except that it happens all at once.

With IRV, votes are counted immediately -- there is no second runoff election.

-- Instead of voting for only one candidate, voters rank the candidates (first choice, second choice and so on). In effect, voters make their runoff choices on the same ballot.

-- A candidate who receives more than 50% of the first-choice votes is elected immediately.

-- If no one reaches 50%, the election goes to a second round. Here, the candidate with the fewest votes is dropped. A vote for him/her then goes to that voter's second-choice candidate.

-- The process is repeated until one candidate gains a majority of all votes.

IRV does not require hand-counting. Most optical scan machines, and all touch-screen machines, are capable of counting IRV votes.

For many years, Australia, Ireland and London have successfully used IRV. Closer to home, Santa Clara County recently adopted IRV, to become effective as voting equipment is updated. Oakland has adopted IRV for special City Council elections. San Leandro recently changed its City Charter to permit two-round runoff elections, with an option for IRV.

Here in Contra Costa, we are working to build a coalition with other 3rd-parties, and to solicit endorsements and collect signatures for a Statewide initiative. We are also pushing for our Cities to adopt IRV, as well as the County.

To do this, we need your help. For Contra Costa County, call Jeanne Rosenmeier at (925) 939-9993, or click here to send email. For statewide efforts, click here .

(Taken from Jeanne Rosenmeier's article, "Instant Runoff Voting," first printed in the January 2001 Green Activist.)

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