I actually think that the Dems and Progs are going to be able to work something out (either officially or unofficially) to avoid splitting the vote against Douglas this coming up election, but I also think that is not something that is going to happen every election, and therefor I still feel like Instant Runoff Voting is something that people need to continue to push for.

I’m pretty sure people here at GMD are well educated on what IRV is, and while I understand that not everyone here thinks it’s the perfect solution, I do think most of us think it’s a lot better then the plurality method we are currently using. What I’d really like to discuss is people’s opinions on the best strategy to achieve it. Should we try to get it instated on the local levels first, as we tried to do here in Rutland last year, and slowly work up to higher elections? Or go straight for a bill to have IRV used in the Gubernatorial election, which will most definately be challenged in court, but I think has good legal standing that it is constitutional (our constitution says nothing about the method used to receive a majority of the votes.) Both? Neither? Did the last Burlington IRV election hurt our efforts? Are they going to try and overturn using IRV in Burlington? What can we do to stop that?

Lots of questions and not many answers (at least from me…hoping some of you have some!). Rep. Mike Fisher has just been confirmed to lead a session on achieving IRV for Vermont at DemocracyFest. I look forward to hearing his plan!