(MA) New voting system proposed...(Run-Off Elections)

[Wilms]

Town Online

State House news: New voting system proposed

Thursday, February 3, 2005

With three special legislative elections in the works, reform advocates are making the case for a new law allowing instant runoff voting in such elections. Instant runoff voting calls for voters to rank candidates by preference. As last-place finishers are dropped and the votes retabulated, a winner endorsed by a majority of voters emerges, rather than a winner approved by a plurality of voters. According to Pamela Wilmot of Common Cause Massachusetts, special legislative elections are a good fit for instant runoff voting because such elections commonly produce low voter turnout, large fields of candidates, and ticket splitting among competing constituencies.

special election contests are scheduled to fill the seats recently vacated by Reps. Thomas Finneran, D-Mattapan, Brian Golden, D-Brighton and Peter Larkin, D-Pittsfield.

<http://www2.townonline.com/wilmington/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=176864>

[skids]

1. Good move by MA dems if they don't fight it.

Properly executed for local elections this could mean the difference between a highly democratic legislature with a minority of Republicans and a highly Democratic legislature with a minority of greens and libertarians. I think the latter would be preferable, and promote a new level of professionalism and political maturity among third parties in this state.

[rox63]

2. Could you also post this to the DU Massachusetts forum?

I think the folks in the MA forum would love to discuss this issue.

[Wilms]

3. Done

<http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=158x2998>

[Igel]

4. They used to be called preference ballots, before it was necessary

to make it a marketing campaign. At least that's what we called them in student government (it's what we used ... low turnout, sometimes with large sets of candidates).

Would have resulted in a clear victory for Gore in 2000 since Naderites would probably have picked Gore as choice #2, and for Bush I in 1992 as Perotians picked Bush I, me thinks.

Of course, there are always those that refuse to indicate a second choice.

[paineinthearse]

5. Bill would change Maine's voting system to 'instant runoff'

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/050201voting.shtml

Tuesday, February 1, 2005
Bill would change Maine's voting system to 'instant runoff'

By MARK PETERS, Portland Press Herald Writer

AUGUSTA — Chris Hourcle voted for Ralph Nader for president in 2000, but didn't even look at his platform last fall. The Bar Harbor resident instead picked a candidate who had a chance to win - not one he believed in. "I decided I couldn't risk it," Hourcle said.

Two Portland lawmakers are pushing for a new law to take that risk out of voting. State House Majority Leader Glenn Cummings, D-Portland, and Sen. Ethan Strimling, D-Portland, want the state to use a so-called instant runoff system. Under it, a candidate's electability would no longer be a factor. Voters instead would get to rank their choices for president, governor and legislative seats on their ballots. Those preferences would help to determine the winner if no candidate got a majority of the votes. "There is no place in Maine for an unfair system that leaves people feeling their vote does not matter," Cummings told the Legislature's Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee during a public hearing Monday.

With an instant runoff, the candidate with the lowest vote total would be eliminated. His or her votes would shift to the remaining candidates, according to preferences that the voters list. The elimination would continue until one candidate wins a majority. In races with three or more candidates, elected officials often win less than 50 percent of the votes. For example, each of Maine's last five governors has won at least one election without capturing a
majority. If the new voting system wins approval, Maine will be the first state to have it. Now, only cities such as San Francisco and Cambridge, Mass., and countries such as Ireland and Australia use the instant runoff system.

Lawmakers have rejected the proposal twice in the last four years. But the second time, they called for a study by the Secretary of State's Office. It found that the state could transition to the new system, but the change could be costly and create challenges for local election officials. Kate Dufour, a lobbyist for the Maine Municipal Association, which represents cities and towns,
said the instant runoff system would create new costs, cause confusion for voters and make ballot counting more difficult for clerks. But election-reform advocates see the idea gaining support each year and plan to continue to push it. Strimling said a pilot program in Portland and a few other Maine communities may be a good next step. "If it doesn't pass, it will go farther than it did last time," said Rep. John Patrick, D-Rumford, co-chairman of the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee.

Staff Writer Mark Peters can be contacted at 623-1031 or at:
[e-mail]