IRV in Iraq

Below is a message I sent Aljazeera. IRV would probably be difficult in Iraq, but it would be great if they could pull it off. Maybe the paper ballots would need to be transported to a central location under the auspices of armed guards and embedded reporters!

I haven't heard back from Aljazeera. Maybe you have other ideas about how to contact the Iraqi people.

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Instant Runoff Voting

I’m from the U.S. state of Minnesota and don’t get Aljazeera, but I heard that some Iraqis want to reject the U.S.-proposed caucus system and hold direct elections. This idea could be taken a step further to turn the tables on U.S. leaders and capture the intellectual and moral high ground!

Have the framers of the new Iraqi constitution considered Instant Runoff Voting? IRV lets voters rank the candidates in order of preference. So, for example, if my first choice finishes last, my vote goes to my second choice, and so on. This type of system makes it easier to consider more than two viewpoints, and the winner always ends up with more than half of the total.

It is a simple concept, but our framers did not think of it, and most Americans do not even know what it is. Our media does not do a good job of explaining it to the public, and the Democrats and Republicans do not want it because it threatens their power.

I am a member of the Green Party, and we sometimes get blamed for the election of Bush. If we had Instant Runoff Voting, however, there never would have been a problem. Our candidate, Ralph Nader, finished third. Most Greens would have marked Al Gore as their second choice, giving Gore enough votes to win.

If the Democrats were serious about the "spoiler" problem, they would introduce legislation to provide Instant Runoff Voting. But I believe they are afraid that more and more people would mark Greens as their first choice instead of their second, and Democrats would slowly lose power. Many Americans agree with us on the issues, but will not vote for us because they do not think we can win.

By supporting Instant Runoff Voting, Iraqis not only break free of the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, but they also assert their independence from the U.S. and George W. Bush! They propose a genuine improvement over the U.S. way of doing things. And if the Iraqis succeed in doing this, they can serve as a good example and help us attain new freedoms in this country as well!

Please visit the following link for more information:

http://www.fairvote.org/irv/faq.htm