Election system change we need: Ranked Choice. In use in Oakland

Oakland, California is one of the few (maybe only) large US cities to use Ranked Choice voting, and it just helped an underfunded - but perhaps better consensus candidate - win the mayoral election (story). My wife and I have been fans of this voting system (we usually refer to it as Instant Runoff Voting) for years.

The idea is that each voter indicates their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices for each office. If there is no clear majority winner, then the 3rd place (and below) candidates are dropped, and ballots that had listed the dropped candidates as the 1st choice are now examined to see who was listed as 2nd choice. This system led to Jean Quan being elected mayor of Oakland California, even though she was outspent (by a large margin) and had fewer "1st choice" votes than the expected winner, Don Perata.

I like this. A lot. We have seen more and more races with candidates trying (sometimes successfully) to buy their office (e.g., Michael Bloomberg, Rick Scott, Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina). It's fine for folks to spend their money on any legal pursuit they choose, but it's not fine when election laws allow ads with flat-out lies, and unfettered spending by corporations to support the candidates that might be most amenable to the desires of big business - at the expense of what I believe is often the greater good.

Here's to the spread of Instant Runoff / Ranked Choice voting!

Comments

[MadMarine]

And those pesky.... unions, "A top official with the AFL-CIO said on Tuesday that the union conglomerate is prepared to spend more than the $53 million it has already pledged towards the 2010 elections." How about a little full disclosure there Joe.

Have a great holiday season,Tom