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The Olympian
Instant runoff bill gets panel
hearing
By Katie Ward
January 27, 2004
A bill designed to give third-party voters a
chance for their votes to count was considered by the House Local
Government Committee on Monday.
The bill, if passed, will establish a pilot program for instant
runoff voting in Vancouver nonpartisan elections. If the pilot goes
well, the method could be adopted by the state as a whole.
The instant runoff voting method works by allowing voters to rank
candidates in preferential order instead of voting for just one. If
no candidate has a majority during the first tally, voters' second
choice votes are factored in. That process is repeated until one
candidate has support from a majority of the voters.
Those who testified in support of the bill Monday said it
eliminates the "spoiler" effect, in which smaller party candidates
split the vote for major parties.
"I like democracy," said Brent White, a Green Party activist and
chairman for the Coalition for Instant Runoff Voting, who testified
in support of House Bill 2669. "In order for elections to be more
meaningful, we need more choices."
Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, who sponsored the bill, said it
allows candidates who may not have an identified base or name
familiarity to run in a general election.
Vancouver voters adopted instant runoff voting as a charter
amendment in 1999, but it was not implemented because officials had
doubts about whether state law allowed elections to be held without
primaries, Moeller said.
With this bill, Vancouver could try it for five years.
"It may expand to other cities," Moeller said.
The bill, which the committee will vote on in the next few days,
is a narrower draft of a bill from last session, which died in the
Senate.
"It's as narrow as it can get," Moeller said. "I don't know what
else I can do to make it less threatening."
This year, he has the support of Secretary of State Sam Reed, who
has not taken a formal position in the past.
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