• Major Instant Runoff Progress

  February 10, 2010

  The British House of Commons has voted overwhelmingly (365 to 187) to give voters a chance to adopt instant runoff voting. If approved in the House of Lords, it would be its first national referendum since the 1970s. In the United States, the major media is more focused on how using IRV may affect the Oscar vote for "Best Picture" even as Berkeley became the third new city this year to commit to using IRV in November and a series of low-plurality wins in Illinois primaries (including 20.3% in the GOP gubernatorial race) suggest President Obama was right in 2002 to propose IRV for Illinois primary elections.

• Portland Charter Commission Recommends IRV

  January 29, 2010

  

  This November, the voters of Portland (ME) will get the chance to decide if they would like to use instant runoff voting to elect their mayor, after a special Charter Commission recommended IRV by an overwhelming margin of 9 to 1. Eight elections since 2004 have yielded only plurality winners who have taken office with less than 48% of the vote. If Portland enacts IRV, the voters of Portland will begin ensuring majority-supported winners beginning in 2012.

• IRV on its Way to San Leandro

  January 20, 2010

  

  The city of San Leandro (CA) will join its fellow Bay Area cities Oakland and San Francisco in adopting instant runoff voting. On January 19, the San Leandro city council voted 5-2 in favor of IRV, in keeping with a 2000 advisory election in which 66% of voters declared that they wanted IRV as an option to make sure office holders were elected by majority. The nearby city of Berkeley looks to be next.

• Oakland Set to Use IRV in 2010

  January 6, 2010

  

  The Oakland (CA) City Council voted on January 5 to adopt instant runoff voting for its mayoral and council elections in 2010, enacting a ballot measure won with 69% and foregoing its traditional low-turnout June elections. Alameda County's elections department deserves great credit for preparing to use IRV, as does the New America Foundation, Caliornians for Electoral Reform and an impressive array of community groups. Berkeley is expected to join Bay Area neighbors Oakland and San Francisco in IRV elections this November.

   

• IRV Soars in Twin Cities, FairVote Corrects the Pundits on Meaning of Election Night '09

  November 5, 2009

• Democracy coalition and leading scholars embrace FairVote's vision

  September 28, 2009

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