A nation at slackless attention - Another City Passes Instant Runoff Voting!

Correspondent:: howhow84@hotmail.com (Howard)
Date: 10 Nov 2004 10:55:54 -0800

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http://www.firv.org/pressreleases/propbpasses110204.html

FERNDALE, MI VOTERS OVERWHELMINGLY PASS PROPOSAL B TO AUTHORIZE
INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING (IRV)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact by phone: Howard Ditkoff at 248-968-9995
Or
Stacie Trescott at 248-336-9241

Contact by email: contact@firv.org
Website: http://www.firv.org



FERNDALE, MI VOTERS OVERWHELMINGLY PASS PROPOSAL B TO AUTHORIZE
INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING (IRV)

Ferndale, MI – November 2, 2004 – Proposal B on Ferndale,
Michigan's ballot passed overwhelmingly today by a margin of 6,522
(69.75%) to 2,828 (30.25%). The proposal amends Ferndale's city
charter to provide for election of the mayor and City Council through
the use of an Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) system pending the
availability and purchase of compatible software and approval of the
equipment by the Ferndale Election Commission.

The Ferndale proposal was widely endorsed with supporters including
Mayor Robert Porter, Council-members Helen Marie Weber, Scott Galloway
and Craig Covey, the Ferndale Democratic Club, Green Party of
Michigan, Michigan Libertarian Party, The Detroit Free Press, The
Oakland Press, Alliance for Democracy of Metro Detroit, Triangle
Foundation, Michigan Election Reform Coalition and Public Interest
Research Group in Michigan (PIRGIM). Instant Runoff Voting has also
been widely endorsed nationally by leading figures such as Democrats
Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich, Republican John McCain, organizations
such as the California, Washington and Vermont League of Women Voters,
and media outlets such as USA Today.

Instant Runoff Voting is a simple to use, full-choice voting system
whereby, when three or more candidates run for a single seat, voters
are allowed to rank the candidates 1-2-3, etc. rather than simply
choose their one favorite candidate. If no candidate wins a majority
of votes on the first count, the last place candidate is eliminated,
and then all ballots are counted again with each counting for the
highest ranked candidate still in contention. This process continues
until one candidate has a majority of the votes and is declared the
winner. In Ferndale's two-seat Council races, the process would be
similar. Runoffs would be held until one candidate wins over 50% of
the votes, earning the first seat. This candidate would then be
removed from the counting and a similar process would take place until
a second person won over 50%, earning the second seat.

IRV eliminates the “spoiler” problem, whereby a candidate
who cannot win him or herself gets enough votes to throw the election
to some other candidate who is favored by a minority. This problem
gained national attention in the 2000 presidential election when Ralph
Nader received more votes in some states than the difference between
George W. Bush and Al Gore's totals, potentially swinging the election
to Bush. However, “spoiler” incidents have also occurred
in many other races including the 1992 presidential election (where
Ross Perot “spoiled the election for George Bush, Sr.) and
Michigan's 2002 attorney general's race (where Green candidate Jerry
Kaufman “spoiled” Democrat Gary Peters).

In addition, IRV has been shown to increase voter turnout, since
voters are allowed to express their complete set of preferences and
thus feel empowered. It encourages more candidates to run for office
and promotes positive issue-based campaigns, discouraging mudslinging
among candidates who must compete for second and third-place votes
from each others' supporters. It also more accurately gauges the true
level of support that exists for each candidate since voters are no
longer afraid that a vote for their favorite candidate may help his or
her political opposite.

Ferndale follows in the footsteps of other cities that have recently
passed related measures including San Francisco and Berkeley,
California. San Francisco's residents passed Proposition A by a
55%-45% margin in March 2002, adopting Instant Runoff Voting to elect
the mayor, Board of Supervisors, district attorney, sheriff,
treasurer, city attorney, public defender, and tax assessor. The
system was used today for the first time there to fill several
Supervisor seats. Berkeley, CA residents passed Measure I on March 2,
2004 by a margin of 72%-28%, enabling the use of IRV to elect the
mayor, City Council and auditor, as soon as the system is deemed
cost-effective to implement.

The system is also used to elect the president of Ireland, the mayor
of London, the Australian House of Representatives and in other
countries throughout the world. It is used by many professional
organizations including the American Political Science Association. In
addition to being considered in cities and states across the country,
H.R. 5293, recently introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives
by Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., would require states to conduct
general elections for Federal office using an instant runoff voting
system.

Ferndale for Instant Runoff Voting coordinator Howard Ditkoff said,
“We are so proud of the good citizens of Ferndale. Today they
expressed clearly their desire for an improved democracy where no
candidate is a 'spoiler', where no vote is wasted, where all elected
officials enjoy majority support, and where voters can vote their
hopes rather than their fears. In doing so, they have set a hopeful
example to Michigan and the nation. We thank all of our supporters and
wonderful volunteers for their hard work and effort to bring attention
to this crucial and fundamental reform in our election system, which
we hope will be implemented even more widely in the near
future.”

Interested readers can learn more online at: http://www.firv.org

For more information on Instant Runoff Voting, visit
http://www.fairvote.org/irv



Cardinal Vertigo wrote in message news:...
> Ad Absurdum wrote:
>
> > So what then? I agree with the REASONS, but what the hell are you
> > going to DO????? I've been telling some people, too, but.......
> > organize what??? Unless you'd rather not say.......
>
> Me talking about the solution:
> http://tinyurl.com/5y3ju
>
> There are several grassroots organizations out there promoting instant
> runoff voting. Howard Dean and John McCain are among its supporters.
> Several states are looking at it or have legislation pending.
> http://www.fairvote.org/
> http://www.instantrunoff.com/
>
> "Clean elections" groups are kicking ass all over the place as well.
> Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Arizona all have some sort of
> publicly financed elections, with legislation pending in nearly half the
> rest of the states.
> http://www.azclean.org/
> http://www.massvoters.org/
> http://www.publicampaign.org/
> http://www.lwvmn.org/FACE/
> http://www.scvotersforcleanelections.com/
>
> This is doable, I promise.