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Saturday, February 12, 2011

DC: Instant Runoff Voting: Does It Make Sense?

The DCist writes about how instant runoff voting was used in DC for Democracy's endorsement process. If it is this confusing, and if results are that distorted - with just 29 voters, imagine if used in real life elections.


Instant Runoff Voting: Does It Make Sense?
...
But while last night's endorsement is but one tiny sample of IRV -- only 29 voters, at least two of which obviously had no problem voting for a Simpsons reference while determining an endorsement for a crowded field of special election candidates -- it does highlight some of the frailties of the method: namely, how it could potentially award a mandate to someone who normally would only squeak by into office. Last night's endorsement vote won't do much to increase the chances of D.C. using IRV to settle any elections anytime soon -- after all, if some of the most politically involved people on the internet can't figure it out, how would one expect the public-at-large, so used to "one person, one vote" concept, to?



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