Implementing Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), would instantly eliminate the “spoiler effect” that has trapped many voters like Robert A. “Buzz” Kerr who said he “support[s] the views of the Green Party” candidate Kevin Zeese, but is likely to vote for Ben Cardin because he “think[s] it’s real important for the Democrats to take control of Congress” ("Running hard – uphill”, 10-9.)
Under instant runoff voting, voters rank the candidates: a 'one' for their favorite candidate, a 'two' for their second favorite and so on. Votes are then counted for the top-ranked candidate on each ballot. After counting these ballots, if no candidate has a majority of the vote and thus no candidate had won, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and the ballots of that candidate's supporters are counted for their next (second) choice, etc. until a candidate wins with a majority of the vote.
Since IRV eliminates the spoiler effect, saves time and money by eliminating the need for a primary election, ensures that the winner of race has the support of a majority of the voters, and brings more voices and choices into the election, why hasn’t the Democratic Party- controlled legislature in Maryland enacted IRV?
The answer is simple: most Democratic leaders in Maryland are fundamentally anti-democratic. In fact, not much has changed in this regard since the early 1900s, when Baltimore Democratic political boss Arthur P. Gorman denounced the possibility of third-party success as being “more objectionable even than Republican success.”
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