Keep it simple by voting down instant runoffs

November’s elections produced one clear majority: Voters fed up with political campaigns.

So an alternative that promises positive electioneering and a clear mandate from the people seems attractive. But ranked choice or instant runoff voting, on the April 5 Fort Collins ballot, is not the answer.

The underlying premise is that any election should produce a winner with 51 percent of the vote. Nations around the world operating under the parliamentary system, which requires collaboration among minority parties, would disagree, as would we.

Changing the way votes are counted on the local level will do nothing to lower the level of vitriol in federal or state campaigns. This particular change will make the process more confusing and prone to manipulation, not less, and could result in the opposite of creating better government.

Let’s use the Academy Awards as an example. In keeping with IRV supporters’ desire to include a spectrum of candidates, Elizabeth Taylor, Lindsay Lohan, Justin Bieber and Charlie Sheen have been nominated for a lifetime achievement award. Dame Liz should win a clear majority on the first round, pick up the statuette, and cue the next dance number.

But what if most Academy voters had never heard of Elizabeth Taylor? Let’s say she got only 33 percent of the first-place votes, Sheen 30 percent, Bieber 27 percent and Lohan 10 percent – but 66 percent gave Sheen a last-place vote and 80 percent gave Lohan a second-place vote.

A supermajority clearly prefer Lindsay to Charlie. But if the ballots were counted using Fort Collins’ proposed instant runoff system, Lindsay, with the lowest number of first-place votes would be out and her votes split between Liz and Justin, since, hypothetically, nobody who voted for her chose Charlie second.

If Lindsay’s supporters all picked Justin second, he would start the second round of counting with 37 percent, knocking Charlie out. Charlie’s first-place votes would be split between Liz and Justin depending on whom his supporters selected for second place – except for the ones who originally preferred Lindsay, now out of the race.

If half of everyone who voted for Charlie first gave Justin second place, the people have spoken: Justin Bieber wins his first lifetime achievement award at the age of 17!

It’s enough to make a voter – and city clerks – long for the carefree days of butterfly ballots and hanging chads.

Let’s keep it simple. Vote no on instant runoff voting.

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