Easy as 1-2-3
Instant runoff voting (IRV) is one type of "ranked voting". Voters simply rank
each candidate in order of preference instead of voting for only their first-choice candidate. That's all voters have
to do. The rest is done by the vote counters. The basic rules are:
- A candidate needs over 50% of the votes to win.
- If no candidate gets over 50%, eliminate the candidate with the fewest votes and have an
immediate runoff count among all remaining candidates.
- Repeat step 2 until somebody gets over 50% of the votes.
Benefits of Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)
Casting a single IRV ballot replaces a non-IRV general election and any needed runoffs.
Candidates win some non-IRV elections with less than 50% of the votes just by getting more
votes than their opponents. Two candidates may be considered the "real" contenders with independent or
third-party candidates considered "vote-stealing spoilers". Voters may feel like a vote for one of the
"other" candidates is wasted and could throw the election to the candidate they want least. With IRV, a
winning candidate always needs over 50% of the votes. Votes aren't "wasted" because IRV vote counts also
consider second-choice votes, and winners have more support since they win with over 50% of the vote.
Candidates compete for second-choice votes as well as first-choice votes. They risk losing
second-choice votes by trashing opponents in a negative campaign.
Governments save money by eliminating runoff elections, and candidates need less money to
campaign.
Voters have more options and can vote for the candidate they really want which encourages
more enthusiastic participation.
How Instant Is It?
There may be several rounds of vote counts, based on the way voters rank each candidate. If
no candidate receives over 50% of the first-choice votes, it triggers an immediate recount. Since voters ranked all
candidates in order of preference, everyone's second choice is clear and votes can be immediately recounted rather than
having a whole new election. The next round of vote counting drops the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes.
Everyone who voted for the remaining candidates as their first choice has their first-choice votes counted as before.
Everyone who voted for the now-eliminated candidate has their second-choice vote added to the other votes. Each voter
still has one vote, and there are the same number of total votes in each round of vote counts.
If there are more than three candidates, and there's still no winner after the second round
of counting, once again the candidate with the fewest votes gets eliminated and there's another immediate count using
second-choice or third-choice votes. Even with multiple candidates and several consecutive vote counts, there can still
be a winner by the next day.
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