Instant runoff voting

One of the other grad students and I have been discussing a plan like this for a while now. We just haven't wanted to take the effort of writing up a referendum legal mumbo jumbo for it. It's great to see that someone in San Francisco thought up this great idea as well and actually acted on it.

Here's the basics of it:

The system, which voters approved in 2002 and is having its first run, is viewed by critics of winner-take-all elections as the start of a long-overdue overhaul of the way Americans choose elected officials.

Under this system, voters can choose three candidates for each office, ranking them in order of preference. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the first-choice votes, the lowest-placing finishers are eliminated, and the second and, if necessary, third choices on those ballots are counted until someone garners a majority.

The system removes the need for a separate runoff election, saving money and, if the recent past is a guide, increasing the number of voters who have a say in choosing the winner. Under the old system, turnout usually dropped significantly in runoffs.

Now why is this such a great idea? Well, why do people not vote for third party candidates? The answer you always hear is because its a wasted vote. This system completely eliminates the wasted vote theory.

For example, I can vote Badnarik as my 1st choice and George Bush as my 2nd choice. Because Badnarik obviously won't have a competitive chance in hell for this election, my vote will go towards Bush. Tada! My vote was not wasted! This simple procedure change to the election will allow third parties an actual chance at winning.

The best thing that San Francisco can do with this is publish the results of only looking at 1st choices as well as the final results after the losing 1st choices are eliminated. This will slowly prove to people that third party candidates have a shot at winning and more people will vote third party without worrying about the 'wasted vote.'

UPDATE: Hot damn! There's a complete website on Instant Runoff Voting.