Runoff voting best for America

I like to make lists. One of my lists is called “The Five Cities I Could Conceivably See… I like to make lists. One of my lists is called “The Five Cities I Could Conceivably See Myself Living In.” It’s a pretty big deal for a city to make it onto this list. I’m very picky.

Most recently added to the list was Minneapolis, currently my No. 5. Beyond the fact that it’s a little cold for my taste – and I’m a winter person – Minneapolis is a really cool city.

It has a lot of really great art museums and theaters, some nice natural lakes and parks and even an elaborate construction of indoor skywalks connecting buildings, so as to shield inhabitants from the frigid winter weather.

What really won Minneapolis major points with me, however, was its recent decision to switch to instant runoff voting.

I’ve personally been a fan of instant runoff voting since I first read about it four years ago, and I’ve had a well-nurtured hatred for the Electoral College practically since birth.

Here’s why instant runoff voting is great: It relies on a true majority, and it gives third parties a chance to gather a constituency and effectively do their job.

America is currently stuck in a two-party system, a rigid cookie cutter political cycle that seriously hurts us – and judging by the growing number of registered independents, a lot of people agree with me.

The problem is, even if people find themselves sympathizing more with a third party than with the Democrats or Republicans, the current voting system dissuades voters from choosing their first choice for fear of “spoiling” their second choice mainstream candidate.

This defeats the purpose of third parties altogether, which is to gain enough support to force one of the main parties to pick up its platforms.

Thus, the two major parties have remained dismally stagnant for the last decade and a half.

Instant runoff voting corrects this problem. It works with a preferential ballot, which means when someone votes he will mark not only his first choice, but also his second, third, fourth, etc.

If the votes are tallied and there is no majority – as in over 50 percent of the votes were for one candidate – a runoff occurs.

The last place candidate will be eliminated and his or her votes will be redistributed to the designated second-place vote on each ballot. This cycle continues until one candidate has over 50 percent of the votes.

The process might sound like a hassle, but with recent technological advances, this could all quite easily be done by computers, and relatively cheaply, too.

This means people can vote for a third party as their first choice without fear of spoiling the results, and I suspect that if implemented, a lot of currently under-the-radar parties will gain a lot of attention, consequently introducing a lot of new ideas into our government.

Excellent, all around.

So when my little ears heard that Minneapolis voted to employ this voting technique, I naturally became very excited.

But now an odious force has cast its dark shadow on the once thriving and politically forward city: a treacherous lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the system.

It was filed by the Minnesota Voters Alliance, no doubt the type who are always saying, “But the founding fathers wanted it this way, don’t you think they’d know best?” Blah blah blah. They probably read “The Federalist” to sleep.

Challenging instant runoff voting because you don’t like it is one thing, but on constitutional grounds?

The lawsuit implies that instant runoff voting is too confusing, and that it will, in effect, disenfranchise voters. This might make sense if the city didn’t hold three meetings explaining the voting system, not to mention the extensive media coverage on the subject before the vote, and still well over 60 percent of residents voted to change to instant runoff voting.

Personally, I think the lawsuit, like many of the other barriers in politics, is more about a fear of change than anything else.

But change is a good thing, and it’s time we embraced it as such.

Lucky for Minneapolis, the lawsuit wasn’t filed until the end of December, so it will be a while until the courts make their final decision on the matter, and until then, it will have the privilege of remaining on my “The Five Cities I Could Conceivably See Myself Living In” list. I like instant runoff voting, so sue me!…at mog4@pitt.edu.