The Colorado legislature on May 6th gave final passage to HB 1378, a bill to allow all Colorado municipalities and special districts to use instant runoff voting and choice voting. A model for other states, the bill was drafted as a result of recommendations from a legislature-initiated task force on voting methods last year that reviewed a wide array of voting methods, including alternative single-winner methods like approval voting and range voting.Kudos to Colorado advocates such as Common Cause's Elena Nunez, FairVote Colorado's Rick Van Wie, state representative John Kefalas and senate majority leader Ken Gordon. Two Colorado localities -- Basalt and Aspen -- already have adopted instant runoff voting for mayoral elections.
[Colorado Voter Choice Task Force Report]
[Bill history for HB 1378]
[Commentary in favor of instant runoff voting in Denver]
[Commentary in favor of instant runoff voting in Aspen]
The National Popular Vote plan holds every promise to be in place for presidential elections in 2012. On May 1st, Hawaii became the fourth state to adopt the plan, with the legislature easily overriding a gubernatorial veto by a combined vote of 56-7. Four states with a total of 50 electoral votes have passed the proposal -- about one-fifth of the way toward implementation.
