FairVote – IRV America

Majority rule and genuine voter choice are marks of a functioning democracy. To support voter choice in high turnout elections, we act to encourage understanding, adoption and effective implementation of instant runoff voting, a ranked choice voting system used in a growing number of American elections.

The Minnesota Supreme Court on June 11 unanimously rejected legal arguments against Minneapolis’s elections moving forward this November with instant runoff voting for mayor and city council and choice voting for  park board. FairVote Minnesota, an intervenor in the case,  said the Court has “blazed a path that every community in our state can follow toward better elections and a stronger democracy.” Saint Paul and Duluth are also debating adoption of IRV.

Meanwhile top political leaders  in San Jose (CA) participated in the New America Foundation’s June 11th forum on adopting IRV, the city council in Hoboken (NJ) passed a pro-IRV measure this month and three political scientists in Washington issued a report analyzing the November 2008 IRV elections in Pierce County. The latter report found that IRV “does an effective job of simulating both a primary and general in one election,” while making it less costly to run -  only three of the six biggest spenders won.

• FairVote Minnesota statement on Court victory
• Minnesota Supreme Court ruling
• Coverage of IRV forum in San Jose
• New America Foundation report on IRV in San Jose
• Column on case for IRV in Torrance (CA)
• Coverage of pro-IRV resolution in Hoboken
• Pierce County analysis by political scientist
• FairVote blog on recent IRV successes

Read more here: FairVote – IRV America.

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