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A BETTER WAY TO VOTE
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by Michael Castleman

Due to the incredible closeness of the presidential election, there has
been much discussion of late about the Electoral College. Newspapers
across the country have criticized it as "antiquated" or "anachronistic."
In an AP news story, Hillary Clinton recently called for its elimination.
In a nation which prides itself on bringing democracy to countries across
the world, it seems odd that we do not trust our own people to directly
elect our leader.

However, the direct plurality model of voting most often suggested as a
replacement has its flaws. It would discourage third-party candidacies, as
voters would be afraid to vote for the third-party candidate of their
choice for fear of helping to elect the major-party candidate they like
least. This "spoiler effect" would be active not only in "swing states"
but across the nation. A candidate might win the presidency with the
support of less than a majority of the nation, as Bill Clinton did in
1992. Woodrow Wilson won the presidency in 1912 with only 41.8% of the
vote.

There is, however, a better way. It's called Instant Runoff Voting, or
IRV. Under IRV, each voter marks his first choice preference, his second
choice, and so on. The first-choice votes for each candidate are counted
up, and the candidate who received the fewest votes is eliminated. The
people who voted for that candidate then have their votes transferred to
their second-choice candidate. This process is repeated until one
candidate has a majority.

For example, suppose that, like many students, you supported Ralph Nader's
platform in the last election but were afraid of the effects of a Bush
presidency on the Supreme Court. If IRV were available, you could have
voted for Nader as your first choice and Gore as your second. If Nader was
unable to gain a majority, your vote would have been transferred to Gore,
helping to prevent a Bush win and eliminating any fears of a "wasted"
vote.

IRV is not untested. It is used to elect the President of Ireland, the
legislature of Australia, and the Mayor of London. It has been proposed by
New Mexico Democrats afraid of the vote-splitting potential of the Green
Party and by Alaska Republicans afraid of the Alaskan Independence Party.

A voter who did not wish to take advantage of IRV could vote only for his
first-choice candidate as under the old plurality system. IRV would
eliminate the need for the costly, often poorly-attended runoff elections
currently held in some jurisdictions. It would strengthen third parties
while allowing a candidate supported by a majority of the voters to win
the election.

IRV would bring a sorely needed revitalization of democracy to the United
States. For more information, see the Center for Voting and Democracy's
website at www.fairvote.org.


The author is a sophomore at Columbia University and a member of the
steering committee of the Columbia University Greens.