At the California Republican Convention on September 16-17, Californians for Electoral Reform conducted a straw poll using Instant Runoff Voting, or IRV. Using IRV, a voter ranks candidates in order of choice: first choice, second choice, and so on.
After the first round, if no single candidate has a majority of “first choice” votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is dropped, and the dropped candidate’s “second choice” votes are substituted (since the “first choice” i.e. that candidate has been dropped). This process is repeated until a single candidate has a majority. Thus, the “lesser of two evils” problem is eliminated and democracy thrives anew.
The following is reproduced with permission from the Californians for Electoral Reform website. See the original at:
http://cfer.org/outreach/pressreleaseSept2011.pdf
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Second poll confirms Ron Paul strength among California Republican Delegates, lack of willingness of Ron Paul supporters to consider other candidates
An official “straw poll” released by the California Republican Party on September 17 showed U.S. Representative Ron Paul of Texas an overwhelming winner 44.9% support with in a crowded field of presidential candidates. That percentage was echoed with 45.8% of first place votes in a simultaneous survey taken by nonpartisan Californians for Electoral Reform (CfER).
The CfER poll shows a closer race for second place among California GOP activists, with 16.2% of first place votes for Rick Perry and 13.2% for Mitt Romney, compared with 29.3% and 8.8% respectively in the official straw poll. Michele Bachmann placed fourth with 7.2% (versus 7.7% in the straw poll), Newt Gingrich was fifth with 3.9%, Rick Santorum was sixth with 3%. Tied for seventh place with 2.4% each were Herman Cain and write-in candidate Sarah Palin. Seven other candidates shared the remaining six percent of first place votes.
What makes the CfER survey interesting is that participants were asked to rank as many candidates as they wanted, putting the number “1″ by their first choice, “2″ by their second favorite, and so on. Ranked Choice Ballots give each respondent the opportunity to express who they favor most and who else they are willing to accept in a fallback position.
Among the 76 GOP activists who ranked Ron Paul number one in the survey, 25 declined declined to mark a second choice, nearly one-third of those voting. The 91 ballots showing other first-choice candidates had only 3 GOP voters declining to make a second choice. This indicates a strong dedication of Ron Paul supporters for their candidate. Of 51 Paul supporters marking a second choice, 28 (54.9%) went to former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson.
ROUND-BY-ROUND RESULTS OF
REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL SURVEY
Conducted at California State Convention, September 16-17, 2011
In this survey, 167 ballots were collected and tallied. 84 votes (the whole number of ballots larger than fifty percent) are required for a majority of the votes cast. Only number “1″ choices are counted in the first round. If no majority is achieved, the lowest ranked candidate(s) is/are eliminated in the next round, and each ballot is transferred to the next preference of each individual voter whose earlier choices had been eliminated. Only the highest ranking still active on any ballot is counted in any given round. To learn more about Ranked Choice Ballots, see www.cfer.org or www.fairvote.org
ROUND ONE
All number “1″ votes were counted with subsequent numbers ignored on this round. All ballots bearing just “X” or check marks were counted as a single vote shared fractionally by all candidates so marked. Tally shows votes in the following amounts: Ron Paul 76.5, Rick Perry 27, Mitt Romney 22, Michele Bachman 12, Newt Gingrich 6.5, Rick Santorum 5, Herman Cain 4, Sarah Palin (write-in) 4, Jon Huntsman 2, Gary Johnson 2, Fred Karger (write-in) 2, and with one vote each, write-ins Chris Christie, Jim DeMint, Rudy Guliani, and Alan Keyes. Ballot listed candidates Thad McCotter and Buddy Roemer received no first place votes.
ROUND TWO
Candidates Christie, DeMint, Guliani, Keyes, McCotter and Roemer were eliminated and b allots transferred to the second choice of each voter for eliminated candidates. Candidates Bachmann, Huntsman and Perry each pick up one vote, with one ballot exhausted (showing no further valid choices).
ROUND THREE
Candidates Johnson and Karger (lowest remaining with 2 votes each) eliminated. Candidates Huntsman and Paul each pick up two votes. Count now stands at: Ron Paul 78.5, Rick Perry 28, Mitt Romney 22, Michele Bachman 13, Newt Gingrich 6.5, Jon Huntsman 5, Rick Santorum 5, Herman Cain 4, Sarah Palin (write-in) 4, exhausted ballots 1.
ROUND FOUR
Candidates Cain and Palin (lowest remaining with 4 votes each) eliminated. Candidate Bachmann picks up 4 votes, while Gingrich and Paul each pick up one vote, and 2 ballots are exhausted. Count now stands at: Ron Paul 79.5, Rick Perry 28, Mitt Romney 22, Michele Bachman 17, Newt Gingrich 7.5, Jon Huntsman 5, Rick Santorum 5, exhausted ballots 3.
ROUND FIVE
Candidates Huntsman and Santorum (lowest remaining with 5 votes each) eliminated. Candidate Perry picks up 3 votes, Gingrich and Romney 2 each, with one vote each for Bachmann and Paul. One ballot is exhausted. Count now stands at: Ron Paul 80.5, Rick Perry 31, Mitt Romney 24, Michele Bachman 18, Newt Gingrich 9.5, exhausted ballots 4.
ROUND SIX
Candidate Gingrich (lowest remaining with 9.5 votes) is eliminated. Candidate Romney picks up 5.5 votes, Perry 2, with one each going to Bachmann and Paul. Count now stands at: Ron Paul 81.5, Rick Perry 33, Mitt Romney 29.5, Michele Bachman 19, exhausted ballots 4.
ROUND SEVEN
Candidate Bachmann (lowest remaining with 19 votes) is eliminated. Candidate Perry picks up 7 votes, Paul 3 and Romney one vote. Eight ballots are exhausted. The final count stands at: Ron Paul 84.5, Rick Perry 40, Mitt Romney 30.5, exhausted ballots 12.
ROUND EIGHT
Having surpassed the majority threshold of 84 votes, U.S. Representative RON PAUL of Texas is declared the winner of this survey.
RANKED CHOICE BALLOTS
Used in several countries, and in many organizations (including by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to choose the Oscar winner for Best Picture), there are numerous names for Ranked Choice Ballots. They include Alternative Vote, Enumerated Ballots, the Hare System, Instant Runoff Voting, Preference or Preferential Voting, and the Single Transferable Vote.
When only one candidate is to be selected, this vote-counting system requires that the winner achieve at least 50% of the vote from the active ballots. Usually that means a majority among the most popular candidates remaining after elimination of less popular candidates have been made in earlier rounds.
To learn more about Ranked Choice Ballots, see www.cfer.org or www.fairvote.org
Californians for Electoral Reform
CfER is a nonpartisan civic group which promotes only two reforms: use of Ranked Choice Ballots and Proportional Representation.
