San Francisco just completed its first instant runoff
election. Instant runoff is based on
giving the voter a first, second and third rank choice for each office. The result is that a 50% majority is
achieved by taking the lowest scoring candidate’s multiple votes and allocating
them among the remaining candidates after the lowest scoring candidate is
deleted. The tallying can be complex
but computers will get better at it as the city gets more experience.
My main report on instant runoff is that it worked. The posted results on election night hardly changed by adding the instant runoff process. It worked, voters weren’t confused and no one would be able to game the results.