If you are a parent of multiple children, this story should be all too familiar. Susie's favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip. She also likes chocolate and cookie dough. Johnnie's favorite is strawberry, but he also like chocolate and rocky road.
Today you only have enough money to buy one container of ice cream. Based on the story, which ice cream is the best choice? Read on...
Susie and Johnnie each have different preferences, but it's easy to see chocolate is a common factor. This is a simple example of instant runoff voting. The same concept can be applied to political elections.
When you head to a general election you have lots of choices. But let's be honest, for most people the end choice is one of two parties regardless of the candidate. It's that way because while people may favor someone else, they believe that by not casting a vote for the major party it risks the opposing party from gaining power - which is entirely unacceptable.
It reminds me of an old episode of The Simpsons called "Citizen Kang". They make the best parody of this I have ever seen - even when Bill Clinton and Bob Dole are revealed to be space aliens the people won't "throw their vote away" on a third party candidate. Ross Perot is visibly upset.
Instant Runoff Voting combats this problem and fear. In an election, people would be free to make their primary choice for whichever candidate appealed to them most. There would still be a safety net knowing that they could express a second choice - the likely winner / major party candidate.
In addition to making our votes more free, it is also more efficient. No more need for primaries. More candidates in the general election means more diversity of ideas, more competition is good right? Call it the public option of election reform.
OK it's radical... unattainable right? Wrong. I remember a few years ago when I first heard about this idea. There was a small group of people trying to get a bill passed in the WA state legislature. I went from nobody to lobbyist (not the high paid kind either). I'd call my rep and say, hey man what's up with the bill? And he'd say, hmm it's still in committee, I'm not on that committee but I'll ask about it for you. Pretty soon that became, ya it's passed and we're just waiting on the gov. Long story short, a small group of dedicated people made it happen that year. IRV, also called ranked choice voting, became a legal option for certain communities. It's a start - gives a chance to prove the idea can work and it can spread from there.
To learn more about IRV, legislation that might be pending in your area, or to get involved, go to fairvote.org. No I'm not affiliated. I know it's not health care, but improving the quality our elected leaders is part of the solution for a wide range of problems.
Come on guys... I want to vote for people I actually believe in, but I can't do it if it means a nutball might be elected instead!
Update: Here's a video of Howard Dean discussing instant runoff voting.