EAC - Voluntary Voting System Guidelines

Name : | David Holtzman
Organization : | Holtzman Law
Post Date : | 9/30/2005
General Comments
Comment : | B. Election Assistance Matters 2. Ranked Choice Voting for the System of the Single Transferable Vote. Elections that use the system of the single transferable vote (STV), also known as instant runoff elections, are more fair, when measured against the principles behind majority rule, than elections which allow a candidate to win with a simple plurality. As instant runoff elections are becoming more common at the local level, and because they improve upon previous systems, you should anticipate and foster interest in having instant runoff (STV) elections for federal offices by providing relevant guidance. Your leadership in this regard could provide an admired legacy. Instant runoff elections use ranked voting, which is also known as "ranked choice voting," "instant runoff voting," "choice voting" or "preference voting." In ranked voting, voters rank candidates as they prefer them (1st choice, 2nd choice, 3rd choice, 4th choice, and so on). Ranked voting in instant runoff elections allows voters to more fully and (because instant runoff elections protect against spoilers and vote-splitting) freely express their preferences at the polls. Ranked voting thus actualizes the First Amendment value of expression more effectively than any system where a voter may only "vote for one." HAVA Section 301 requires in certain instances that a voting system or a state or jurisdiction notify voters of "the effect of casting multiple votes" for an office. You should include in any guidance about voting systems (and thus in the VVSGs) specifications for such notification in elections that use ranked voting. While not permitted to cast multiple votes (instant runoff elections are "one person, one vote" - note the "single" in STV), a voter in an instant runoff election may make several marks on a ballot with regard to a single office. If a voter marks the same preference rank for more than one candidate or marks more than one preference rank for a single candidate, the voter will have made an error akin to casting (or attempting to cast) more than one vote for a single office in a "vote for one" election. Thus any guidance you issue about casting multiple votes should address instant runoff elections. Thank you for considering these comments.