About IRV

It cracked a roo. Just joking! Actually IRV is one of the greatest innovations in modern voting systems.

Since I announced my intent to vote for Nader, the reaction has been split about 50/50. I knew it would be a controversial choice, but after Obama said the troop surge is working (a claim that makes absolutely no sense), I have to vote on principle.

I've been told on the other hand that principle shouldn't matter when the country is on the verge of collapse. The country's not on the verge of collapse. It's already collapsed.

There's only one time after 1992 when I voted for a major party for President, and that was in 2004 when I backed John Kerry. And I was damn close to voting third party. So nobody should be surprised if I vote third party again.

Still think I'm making a poor choice? Well, look at a ballot from any of numerous other countries. They usually don't have just 2 candidates, and those who come in third or fourth in those countries usually win a much greater percentage than those who place third or fourth in America. Over there, people don't call them spoilers.

Here's a way to stop the futile bickering over who's a spoiler and who isn't: instant runoff voting. America needs IRV, and it needs it now. Before November. But Republicans have blocked IRV.

What's instant runoff voting? That's a question any child may ask you - but it is not a childish question.

IRV lets you (the voter) rank the candidates instead of just voting for one. You can put Nader (or McKinney) first, Obama second, another candidate third, another fourth, and so on. If no candidate wins a majority of first-place votes, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated. Then supporters of the eliminated candidate have their second-place votes counted and added to that candidate's first-place votes. The process is repeated until a candidate has a majority.

IRV is used to elect national lawmakers in Australia and Fiji and to choose the President of Ireland. In the U.S., it's used in 4 cities.

With IRV, there's no such thing as a spoiler. It's impossible. And you can feel much better about your vote, because you can vote on principle and not drain votes from a possible second choice.

Had the Republicans not stalled IRV in 2000, people wouldn't be so mad at Nader now, because the vote wouldn't have been split. The Republicans have a way of pitting people against each other, don't they?

Let's learn from the costly mistake of not having IRV back then. It's not too late to implement IRV for the upcoming election.