Instant Runoff Voting

A Pilot Program in the October 9, 2007�City of Cary Municipal Election

Mayor, City Council At-Large,

City Council Districts B & D

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North Carolina �Instant Runoff Pilot Program

SESSION LAW 2006-192

HOUSE BILL 1024

• Pilot program for instant runoff voting authorized for up to 10 cities in 2007.
• The pilot program is approved for up to 10 counties in 2008.
• Avoids the expense of a runoff election by allowing voters to rank their choices.

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Benefits of Instant Runoff Voting in Cary

Instant runoff voting will do everything the current runoff system does to ensure that the winner has popular support, but it does it in one election rather than two. It balances the values of Cary’s pre-2001 plurality voting method with its current runoff election method.

• It saves taxpayers and candidates money used to hold two elections.
• It ensures higher voter turnout than asking voters to return for a runoff.
• It preserves majority rule by ensuring winners must have 50%, plus one.
• It is ready to be administered securely and well by election officials.

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Instant Runoff Voting’s History�

• Recommended by Robert’s Rules of Order
• Used for Australia’s national elections since 1918
• Has won support of the League of Women Voters after full studies in states such as Minnesota, Washington, Vermont, Arizona, Florida and California
• Approved by voters in 2006 in American cities and counties with more than 1.5 million people

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Instant Runoff Voting in Practice, #1

• Utah: In 2002, Republicans started IRV at conventions to pick nominees for congressional and state offices.
• Louisiana: More than 10,000 overseas out-of-state military voters received IRV ballots in 2004. Arkansas and South Carolina also use IRV ballots to protect overseas voters in runoff elections.
• Vermont: The city of Burlington began using IRV in mayoral elections in 2006. With 5 candidates to rank, 99.9% of voters cast a valid ballot.
• California: San Francisco has used IRV since 2004 and will save at least $15 million over 10 years. Voter error is low, and voters prefer IRV over runoffs by five to one.

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Instant Runoff Voting in Practice, #2

• New Cities: Cities and counties recently adopting IRV include Minneapolis (MN), Pierce County (WA), Oakland (CA) and smaller cities in Maryland and Michigan
• Colleges: Colleges with IRV for student elections include Duke, Rice, U-VA and UCLA and more than half of U.S. News’ top 30 universities.
• Political Scientists: The American Political Science Association uses IRV to elect is president.
• Awards: The Heisman Trophy and the Academy Award nominees are selected by ranked voting methods.

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How Instant Runoff Voting Works, #1

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First Round of Counting

• Voters make first choice selections for an office just as they currently do. Additionally, voters may select up to two alternate choices. �
• Each voter’s #1 choice is tallied. A candidate who gets a majority of first choices is the winner.
• If there is no majority winner,, there is a runoff between the top two finishers just as in the current system.

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How Instant Runoff Voting Works, #2

Second (Runoff) Round of Counting

• All candidates except the top two vote-getters are eliminated just as in the current system.
• All voters have one vote in the runoff, just as in the current system.
• If your #1 candidate is in the runoff, your vote goes to that candidate. If your #1 candidate has lost, your vote counts for your #2 choice or #3 choice depending on which one is in the runoff.
• These votes are added to the first round vote totals of the top two vote-getters. The runoff candidate with the majority of votes wins, just as in the current system.

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Sample Instant Runoff Voting Ballot with Four Candidates Running for 1 Seat

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Sample Instant Runoff Voting Ballot from Burlington, VT�

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Voter Response to Instant Runoff Voting

• In Jan. 2007, Takoma Park (MD) used IRV to fill a city council vacancy. There was one invalid ballot out of more than 200 cast. FairVote, a non-profit electoral reform organization, conducted an all-day exit poll. Nine of ten voters favored the system.
• One question asked of voters was “How difficult or easy did you find the concept of ranking your candidates?” 64% said very easy, 25% said easy, 10% said neither easy or difficult, 1% said difficult.

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