Instant Runoff Voting - See Why it Takes Weeks to Count

[texasholdum]

Run time: 02:43 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNxwMdI8OWw   Posted on YouTube: October 21, 2009 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: October 22, 2009 By DU Member: texasholdum Views on DU: 599

 
When you apply Instant Runoff Voting to an election with multiple winners, things get complicated. Voters still rank their choices 1, 2, 3, etc., but figuring out the winners requires long division. Minneapolis elections officials will have to use math like this to figure out who will sit on its Park Board seats and the Board of Estimate and Taxation. The vote counting, which must be done by hand, is expected to take weeks.

[TreasonousBastard]

1. And the challenges will take weeks more...

or months more, and the errors of hand counting multiply.

Meanwhile, message boards and news outlets will be inundated with the whinings of people who absolutely must have the results within 5 minutes of the polls closing.

[Oregone]

2. Ah, scary

Math holding democracy hostage. Ohhh...Ahhh.



If there is one thing scarier than science, its math.

[zenprole]

3. "It's a straw man, man!" - Austin Powers

Yeah, if we can't have outrageously flawed elections immediately, then why go to the effort? Here's to continuing with an 18th century electoral system until we figure out long division.

We might as well roll back womens' suffrage and bring back slavery, too. Making those changes was way too complicated and wasn't working out, anyway.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

4. we can barely count votes the plain old vanilla way

we don't need to play 3 card monte with our elections.

[Luminous Animal]

5. Perhaps someone should call the Australian elections board.

They've been using IRV for 150 years. Much of the time, the results are posted on the night of the election because one candidate will receive 50%+1. There are, of course, a few elections that take a few days to sort out and then there is the rare election that takes weeks.

In every case though, it is quicker and cheaper than holding a run-off election which is usually held 6 weeks after the first.

[AusDem]

8. yep, i think this video is unnecessarily complicating things

first thing i dont understand is why do you need three winners? weird system.

also, we have an option on the ballot that allows you to choose if you want to personally allocate preferences (ie where the loser candidates' votes go) or if you want to go with your parties preferred method (ie, our left wing party (Labour) may decide that it would rather assign preference votes to the greens than to the right wing party (Liberal), and all you need to do is tick a box that says that you're happy to go with your party line.

but LA is correct. most of our results are out on the night of voting. as in the US, if its close, the process can take longer.

its a good, clean system down here, admittedly a total population of 22million makes it a bit more manageable, but nothing a large state couldn't run individually.

[Luminous Animal]

12. You don't need three winners.

The video does, indeed, complicate things for a reason... to make us afraid from exerting any influence outside of the two party system.

[Ken Burch]

6. It doesn't take weeks to count the votes in Irish elections.

And their system is a form of IRV.

What's your point? We should stay with First Past The Post(a system that's ALWAYS biased towards the rich and the reactionary)just because it's simpler?

[rooboy]

7. What a pile of fucking shit.

We have national elections using pencil and paper using 'instant run-off voting' as you call it, and we have almost all the districts in the country counted to the point of declaring a winner within no more than about THREE HOURS of the polling booths closing.

All counted by hand.

[crispini]

10. How many people are on those ballots, though?

do you also elect smaller local offices at the same time? I have worked elections where we had over 50 races on the ballot (local judges, county commissioners, etc.)

[Luminous Animal]

11. It's similar in Australia.

In most any race, someone will win with 50% +1, then there is no reason to go on. Oh, and voting is compulsory.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

9. Solution: