Zachary Said:

What is the down side to instant runoff voting?

We Answered:

OK I will not vote then.~!

Harold Said:

Do you think our election system would benefit from instant-runoff voting?

We Answered:

I agree with you. Not only would it be more efficient, and enable people to vote their conscience, it would save a great deal of money each election season. From most of the answers above mine, I would guess that few people really understand how it would work, and how it would benefit our country as a whole. That is what I find scary...

Margaret Said:

What is instant runoff voting (IRV), and why is it bad?

We Answered:

Instant runoff voting basically means voters number the candidate in order of their preference which means that there is no need to have a runoff since whoever gets more number ones wins. This process would save a lot of time, money, and political reputations in the long run, but there would be some expense to change over from the current system of voting. Also, it might give voters two votes instead of just one. IRV isn't "bad"; like most things it has positive and negative aspects.

Troy Said:

What do you think of instant runoff voting?

We Answered:

Just to point out, there were other independent and third party candidates running in 1992 besides Ross Perot, so their votes would get distributed first. But that's just errata, and not answering the question.

Anyway, instant runoff voting isn't a bad idea, but it fails to address the greater problem of equal ballot access and media coverage for independents ant third parties. I'm more concerned with actually electing independents and members of third parties than making sure I'm not "wasting my vote." So, perhaps IRV might work for electing a president, but it doesn't fix a greater problem we have in federal and state legislatures. For something like that, we'd need to revamp the way legislators are elected. Some sort of proportional representation system seems to make sense for this. Unfortunately, it's kind of a vicious cycle that prevents these reforms from actually happening.

Linda Said:

Alternative/Instant Runoff Voting and democracy?

We Answered:

Even though I believe the majority of people are stupid and are likely to make a wrong decision, I also believe that election based on popular vote is most fair.