Free & Equal Founder and Chief Executive Christina Tobin is now on the front line of the Instant Runoff Voting movement. She, along with Ballot Access News publisher Richard Winger, recently were appointed to the Board of Directors of Californians for Election Reform.
Of the organization, Winger said, “It is a somewhat prestigious organization that has been the force behind gains for Instant Runoff Voting in California. In fact, it just had a major victory. Oakland will start using IRV for its own city elections in 2010. San Francisco has been using it since 2004. Berkeley also will use it soon. They are working hard on San Jose and other cities including Los Angeles.”
With IRV, voters rank multiple candidates by preference, as opposed to the traditional “one person-one vote” method. Click here to see how IRV prevents the “spoiler effect.”
“Instant Runoff Voting is a significant step towards elections that are truly free and equal,” Tobin said. “IRV can solve many of our electoral problems and give a stronger voice to the people.”
Although IRV hasn’t yet taken root in the U.S. on the state level, it is quickly gaining ground in counties and cities all over the country, notably some of our nation’s most populated areas in California.
According to Oakland Local, “The movement to switch Oakland to IRV elections was supported by over 60% of voters and dozens of community organizations including the League of Women Voters, Oakland IRV Implementation Group, Chinese American Citizens Alliance, Spanish Speaking Citizens Foundation, East Bay Gray Panthers, East Bay Libertarian Party, and many others.”
Read the full article here.
One of the nations foremost leaders of the movement for IRV and other democratic reforms is FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy. Its executive director, Rob Richie, had this to say recently about IRVs growing popularity:
“The frustrations of a two-choice, two-party system are particularly clear this year nationally, and even more so in California — home of one of our most dysfunctional state governments. Two-thousand ten presents a crossroads for the state’s reform trajectory. Voters may adopt an even more restricted general election system with the top two primary, or may have the chance to support establishing a state constitutional revision process that could dramatically expand choice through proportional representation and Instant Runoff Voting. Several more major cities could use Instant Runoff Voting for the first time, most notably Oakland, or parochial interests may try to block reform. It’s a great year to get involved and stand up for democracy.”
That about says it all.
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