Fresno Bee

I would like to congratulate Fresno City Council Members Tom Boyajian and Jerry Duncan for suggesting the use of Instant Runoff Voting as a way to increase voter turnout in Fresno. This method of election allows voters to rank the candidates in their order of preference. If none of the candidates receives a majority of the first-choice votes, the candidate who would win a runoff is then determined by counting the second, third and so on,  choices of the voters. Thus winners are determined at one election -- no runoff needed.

This means that the election of council members and mayor could be taken care of at the November election when voter turnout is highest. Furthermore, the ridiculously long campaign period would be shortened by eight months, making campaigning easier for candidates time-wise and financially (campaign finance reformers take note!).