Reply #12: NJ- Instant Runoff Election

[FogerRox]

Come May, in Trenton, if no candidate receives a majority of 50 percent of the votes plus one, a runoff election will be held the following month between the top two vote-getters. The two finalists will have to resume the stress of campaigning. The extra election will cost thousands of dollars. And the voter turnout is virtually certain to be smaller than it was the first time; some of the voters may not even be the same people.

In Burlington, on Tuesday, even though no candidate received a majority of the votes in the first count, the voting system that was in use there incorporated an "instant runoff" that enabled one of the five candidates to receive a majority vote on a subsequent tally. There was no need for a costly and anticlimactic second election.

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In an IRV election, voters are given the option of ranking the candidates in order of choice -- first, second, third and so on. If one candidate receives a majority of first preferences, that person is elected. However, if no one is the first choice of at least half the voters plus one, the re-tabulation begins. The candidate with the fewest first preferences is eliminated, and the second choices on his or her ballots are distributed to the remaining candidates. This process of eliminating candidates and re-tabulating the votes continues until just two finalists remain. Whichever one has the most votes is the winner.

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Many elections in New Jersey and the United States provide for no runoff process at all. Victory simply is awarded to the candidate with the largest numerical vote count, whether it is a majority of the total vote or not. In a large field of candidates, the winner can and sometimes does emerge with as little as 30, 25, or even 20 percent of the total votes. That's an affront to the bedrock democratic principle of majority rule.