How can we become free to vote for a candidate we support without allowing a distasteful candidate into office? Why did Tolman and Reich lose to O'Brien in the Democratic primaries this year? Why did Michael Capuano secure himself the Democratic nomination to be our representative to U.S. Congress with a mere 23% of the vote? Why did the Florida vote come so close in 2000? The answer is that none of these elections used Instant Runoff Voting!
Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) is a way of voting that may become the standard for some offices in Massachusetts as soon as the 2004 elections. In IRV, each voter ranks the candidates according to preference, choosing one candidate first, another second, and so on. In the event that no candidate has a majority of first choice votes, the lowest ranking candidate is eliminated and all candidates move up on those ballots.
In Massachusetts, three bills currently in the state legislature would make IRV the method of voting in certain elections. Our speakers will discuss electoral reforms such as IRV and bring us up to date on their current legal status in Massachusetts.