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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