Instant-runoff voting

When the Single Transferable Vote voting system is applied to a single-winner election it is sometimes called instant-runoff voting (IRV), as it is much like holding a series of runoff elections in which the lowest polling candidate is eliminated in each round until someone receives majority vote. IRV is often considered independently of multi-winner Single transferable vote (STV) because it is simpler and is a widely advocated electoral reform in the USA.

Where IRV is used

The single-winner variant of STV is used in Australia for elections to the Federal House of Representatives, for the Legislative Assemblies ("lower houses") of all states and territories except Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory, which use regional multi-member constituencies. It is also used for the Legislative Councils ("upper houses") of Tasmania and Victoria, although the latter will switch to the multi-member variant from 2006.

Related Topics:
House of Representatives - Tasmania - Australian Capital Territory - Victoria - 2006

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In the Pacific, IRV is used for the Fijian House of Representatives. Papua New Guinea has also decided to adopt it for future elections, starting in 2007. The Fijian system has been modified to allow for both "default preferences", specified by the political party or candidate, and "custom preferences", specified by the voter. Each political party or candidate ranks all other candidates according to its own preference; voters who are happy with that need only to vote for their own preferred candidate, whose preferences will automatically be transferred according to the ranking specified by the candidate. Voters who disagree with the ranking, however, may opt to rank the candidates according to their own preferences. In the last election, however, only about a tenth of all voters did so. The ballot paper is divided by a thick black line, with boxes above (for the default options) and below (for customized preferences).

Related Topics:
Pacific - Fijian - House of Representatives - Papua New Guinea - 2007 - Last election

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The countries mentioned above all use STV for some or all of their municipal elections. Starting in 2004, some municipal areas in New Zealand also adopted STV to elect mayors (by the single-member variant) and councilors (by the multimember variant). Political parties, cooperatives and other private groups also use STV and/or IRV.

Related Topics:
2004 - New Zealand

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A voting method similar to IRV, known as http://mathforum.org/dmpow/solutions/solution.ehtml?puzzle=46plurality vote with elimination, is used to select the winning bid of both the Summer and Winter Olympics in the International Olympic Committee.

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See Table of voting systems by nation

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Adoption in the United States

Suggested by a recent version of Robert's Rules of Order, instant-runoff voting is used in the United States for some non-governmental elections, including student elections at some major universities.

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Notable supporters include Republican U.S. Senator John McCain, 2004 Democratic presidential primary election candidates Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich, and consumer advocate Ralph Nader. The system is favored by the United States Green Party and the United States Libertarian Party, as a solution to the "spoiler" effect third-party sympathizers suffer from under plurality voting (i.e., voters are forced to vote tactically to defeat the candidate they most dislike, rather than for their own preferred candidate).

Related Topics:
John McCain - 2004 Democratic presidential primary - Howard Dean - Dennis Kucinich - Consumer advocate - Ralph Nader - United States Green Party - United States Libertarian Party - "spoiler" effect

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IRV was adopted for mayoral races in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1975 after a successful ballot initiative sponsored by the local, left-wing Human Rights Party; however, the process was used only for the 1976 mayoral election.

Related Topics:
Ann Arbor, Michigan - 1975 - Human Rights Party - 1976

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This issue rose to attention in the United States in the 2000 election. Supporters of Ralph Nader who nevertheless preferred Democrat Al Gore to Republican George W. Bush found themselves caught in a dilemma. They could vote for Nader, and risk Gore losing to Bush, or, they could vote for Gore, just to make sure that Bush is defeated. It has been argued that Bush won largely due to the "spoiler effect" of Nader supporters in Florida.

Related Topics:
United States - 2000 election - Ralph Nader - Democrat - Al Gore - Republican - George W. Bush - Florida

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In March 2002, an initiative backed by the Center for Voting and Democracy passed by referendum making instant runoff voting the means of electing local candidates in San Francisco. It was first used in that city in the fall of 2004. (Note: The San Francisco Department of Elections prefers the term "Ranked Choice Voting" because "the word 'instant' might create an expectation that final results will be available immediately after the polls close on election night.") The new system did not work as well as was hoped due to software and logistical difficulties; the results took several days to produce definitive results.

Related Topics:
2002 - Center for Voting and Democracy - San Francisco

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Voters in Ferndale, Michigan amended the city charter in 2004 to allow for election of the mayor and city council by instant-runoff voting. On March 1, 2005, voters in Burlington, Vermont voted to amend their city charter to use instant-runoff voting.

Related Topics:
Ferndale, Michigan - March 1 - 2005 - Burlington, Vermont

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In September 2003, an amendment to the California State Constitution was proposed (SCA 14) with wide-ranging goals of election reform, including ranked-choice voting for statewide offices.

Related Topics:
2003 - Election reform

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In order to increase awareness of the voting method and to demonstrate it in a real-world situation, the Independence Party of Minnesota tested IRV by using it in a straw poll during the 2004 Minnesota caucuses (results favored John Edwards).

Related Topics:
Independence Party of Minnesota - Straw poll - Minnesota - Caucus - John Edwards

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Activists in the state of Washington have been urging adoption of instant-runoff voting there for several years. An initiative seeking ballot access in 2005 failed to garner enough signatures. The city of Vancouver, Washington has voted to adopt instant-runoff voting, but the state legislature has yet to enact enabling legislation.

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Adoption in Canada

The British Columbia Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform met during 2004 and selected STV as the preferred method of voting in British Columbia.

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