Instant runoff voting for the UK? I was worried when I saw Rob Richie, Director of Fair Vote's recent article at Huffington Post titled "Britain may adopt instant runoff voting for next general election."
Turns out the title is misleading.
It should read "Rob Richie really really wishes that hopefully maybe a small coalition can stir up enough interest to get a national referendum held on IRV/alternative vote."It's all just more of Fair Vote's smoke and mirrors. There is not at this time a national referendum on IRV/alternative vote in the works for the UK. Right now there's a small coalition called Vote For Change pushing for a national referendum on Instant Runoff Voting or the Alternative Vote. This coalition consists of some musicians, artists, actors, journalists, a comedian, some activists and a retired politician. Nice folks but not who I would consult on election administration matters. 
Britain may adopt instant runoff voting for next general election
Rob Richie, Executive Director of Fair Vote May 31, 2009
Rob Richie, Executive Director of Fair Vote May 31, 2009
blah blah blah....same old same old....
In his article, Rob Richie has the usual talking points about how IRV will fix everything that is wrong with the UK's political system, just by ranking choices. He does everything but offer free ponies. At least he never claims it will grow hair on heads. RR rambles on so much that I'm just going to post the title and link. Oh, don't even think about trying to post a comment to RR's article, as usual, RR has "comments" turned off. For Pete's sake, its Huff Po! Turn the comments back on!
Will the UK buy the instant runoff voting aka alternative vote talking points? Lets hope the answer is no, and that UK citizens will ask tough questions and insist upon straight answers. Rob Richie's article title was overly optimistic.
If somehow interest can be ginned up to hold a national referendum on instant runoff aka the alternative vote - UK voters can strongly reject it as did British Columbia. Just this May 12, 2009 voters in British Columbia defeated a provincial referendum on the Single Transferable Vote proposal with 61% vote for FPTP. This was the second time in recent history that British Columbia rejected IRV/STV.
Like the talking points promoting Instant Runoff Voting or the Alternative Vote, this is just more smoke and mirrors.
