By Lynne Serpe and Rob Richie

Instant runoff voting ((IRV) and proportional voting are the linchpins to opening up our electoral process to meaningful independent politics. IRV gives third parties and independents a chance to run hard and win as many votes as possible without the spoiler tag, while proportional voting giving them seats in legislatures in proportion to their electoral strength.

These dynamic electoral reforms made their biggest advances yet this November. Voters in three major jurisdictions - ones averaging more than a half million people -- overwhelmingly approved IRV, with an average winning percentage of more than 62%. A fourth jurisdiction gave a strong thumbs up in a stand-alone advisory measure vote for the choice voting system of proportional representation. Choice voting was enacted as part of Minneapolis' IRV win, the first ballot measure win to implement choice voting in the United States in a half-century.

With these recent victories, IRV has racked up an impressive eight consecutive victories at the polls in the last three years: Ferndale (MI) and Berkeley (CA) in 2004; Burlington (VT) and Takoma Park (MD) in 2005; and Minneapolis (MN), Davis (CA), Pierce County (WA) and Oakland (CA) in 2006. In addition, IRV had two key wins in state legislatures in 2006, with both houses of the Vermont legislature passing legislation to require the Secretary of State to develop a plan for running statewide IRV elections in 2008 and North Carolina adopting a new law to use IRV for certain vacancy elections and to try it out on a pilot basis in up to 20 cities and counties in 2007-08. The process of selecting pilot cities for 2007 elections is well under way.

San Francisco voters ignited the modern movement for IRV in 2002 when they overcame well-financed opposition to adopt IRV for mayor and other high offices. Three successive IRV elections in San Francisco since that win have demonstrated that San Franciscans across all age and ethnic lines are able to understand how to rank candidates on their ballot. Exit polls show four-to-one support for IRV over the old system, and in this year's most tightly contested race for an open seat, a grassroots candidate with strong neighborhood connections defeated three better-funded challengers. In the first IRV election for mayor held in Burlington, Vermont this year, a Progressive Party challenger defeated a much better funded moderate Democrat, soaring ahead despite a late start in part because his backers didn't have to worry about the spoiler tag.

Winning IRV takes hard work, of course, and making sure the timing is right, but this year shows that IRV can win in partisan elections, in big cities, in counties with large rural populations and in cities with large communities of color. If advocates do their homework, line up helpful backers like the League of Women Voters and local newspapers and work with national backers to raise funds, they can win - and win big.

How Campaigns Were Won

Here's a rundown of how the campaigns won in Pierce County, Oakland and Davis:

Oakland: With close to 400,000 residents, Oakland is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country. While the majority of voters are registered Democrats, independent and third party registrants make up almost 30% of the electorate. The Measure O campaign built on IRV's history of success in nearby San Francisco while engaging in a strong, grassroots effort of voter education that ultimately resulted in 68% support at the polls.
Most Oakland elections have been decided in a June primary ­ when voter turnout is extremely low. IRV will replace the old two-round runoff system with IRV so that candidates are elected in a single November election, when turnout is highest - often twice as high in communities of color. Holding one election instead of two also will save nearly a half million dollars each election, shorten campaigns and create incentives for more positive campaigns.

The Yes on O campaign earned a diverse and influential set of organizational and individual endorsements, including the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, Central Labor Council, NAACP Youth & College Division, Spanish Speaking Citizens' Foundation, National Women's Political Caucus, Sierra Club and the Democratic, Green, Peace & Freedom and Libertarian parties. The campaign consistently educated voters through a combination of precinct walking, letters to the editor and opinion pieces, tabling and direct mail. Its budget was about $50,000.

A county of nearly 800,000 people with the city of Tacoma and large rural areas, Pierce County (WA) joins Burlington as the first jurisdictions in the modern era to adopt IRV for partisan, party-line elections. In 2008, the county executive and other key county leaders will be elected with IRV in November. Parties will nominate one or more candidates for each office through privately funded means, and candidates will have easy ballot access. Placed on the ballot by an elected charter commission, the campaign for IRV was led by two local leaders of the Libertarian and Green Parties, with a FairVote staffer as campaign manager and former Nirvana bass player Krist Novoselic playing a key supporting role. The League of Women Voters and the local paper were key backers, along with a racially and politically diverse list of individuals. The campaign ultimately won more than 100,000 votes with a budget of just over $100,000, carrying every state legislative district in the county, including ones carried by both Republicans and Democrats.

In 2003, University of California-Davis students worked to handily pass a measure to adopt choice voting for student elections. After voting with these systems, college students lobbied the Davis city council to pass them in city elections. The City of Davis Governance Taskforce voted 8-1 to recommend choice voting, and the Council then placed it on the Davis ballot as an advisory measure - one that can be acted on once Davis becomes a charter city or California law allows smaller cities to adopt proportional voting. FairVote's California representative Chris Jerdonek, one of the student leaders in 2003 working for choice voting, coordinated an effective campaign that spent about $14,000 in winning 55% of the vote. The Davis model of empowering students to reform their campus elections and export the positive changes to their city and state is one we will replicate at campuses around the nation - and indeed already dozens of colleges and universities have adopted IRV and choice voting.
Voters are clearly open to proven ways for improving democracy, whether they live in urban Oakland or more rural Pierce County, WA. 2007 campaigns may well take place in such cities as Santa Fe (NM), Sarasota (FL), Ann Arbor (MI) and San Diego (CA). With approximately 30,000 incorporated cities across the United States, the potential for IRV has barely been tapped. Your city or county can be next. What are you waiting for?

Lynne Serpe is the Deputy Director of the Political Reform Program of the New America Foundation (www.newamerica.net/politicalreform). Rob Richie is the executive director of FairVote (www.fairvote.org).