Instant runoff voting is a nonpartisan approach to elect candidates with broad voter support.

Instant runoff voting (sometimes referred to as instant runoffs or ranked choice voting) is a method of voting in which instead of voting for a single candidate, the voter ranks candidates on the ballot in order of preference – first, second, third, and so on. 

If a candidate gets more than half of all first-choice votes, they win just as in any other election.

If no candidate gets a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voters who picked that candidate as "number 1" will have their votes count for their "number 2". This process repeats until a candidate wins with more than half of the remaining votes, thus serving as a series of virtual runoffs ("virtual" because voting takes place once and "runoffs" occur in the tallying process).

This method gives voters more choice by eliminating the fear of wasting your vote on someone who can't win. It also avoids the problem of similar candidates splitting the vote and enabling someone to win whom a majority does not support.

Instant runoff voting is nonpartisan. It sometimes helps Republicans, sometimes helps Democrats, and always helps elect candidates with broad voter support.

Making the change to Instant Runoff Voting will do two powerful things:

1) Candidates must gain broad voter support to win.

To win an election using IRV, candidates must earn over 50% (a majority) of the vote. Currently in Texas general elections for statewide offices and for legislative seats both in Texas and Congress, the candidate who receives the most votes (a plurality) wins, even if that is less that a majority. However, for party primaries and special elections, the winner must receive a majority. This often means the two candidates who received the most votes advance to a separate runoff at a future date. Separate runoff elections are costly and are often very low turnout, so the final determination of a winner is usually made by a small group of voters.

2) Runoffs are instant.

This saves time and money, and more voters are involved. Because of how IRV counts the votes, the runoff occurs instantly.  Since voters ranked their preferred candidates, there is no need to wait for a second election. The winner can be known without a long delay. No extra trip to the polls or costly additional election is needed, and everyone who voted in the election participates in the instant runoff. 

Instant runoff voting (IRV), sometimes referred to as instant runoffs or ranked choice voting (RCV), brings the election process back to the vibrant dynamic system our Founding Fathers intended. How? Here are all of the ways IRV improves our election process and why Texas should adopt it!

Saves Money

Wouldn't you rather go to the polls once every election?

Many local offices are elected in two rounds of elections: a general election followed by a runoff if no candidate has a majority. Holding a second election for the runoff incurs additional cost while often suffering from very weak and unrepresentative turnout. Instant runoff voting solves both of these problems by collecting the votes needed for an instant runoff election with only one trip to the polls. 

IRV also saves money for candidates, for whom the cost of a runoff campaign could be an insurmountable obstacle.

Greater Choice

Across industries we expect and enforce healthy competition because competition encourages:

• Innovation
• Customer-focus
• Lower prices.

Yet in our public politics we endure a duopoly. Our two major political parties sometimes actively discourage third-party candidates similar to them and sometimes actively encourage third-party candidates similar to their opponent because of the potential effect of vote splitting. This is sometimes referred to as the “spoiler effect”.

IRV allows multiple candidates to compete without fear of splitting the vote. Voters can rank candidates from first choice (even if unlikely to win) to second choice and so on, rather than feeling they are forced to choose between the lesser of two evils. Voting is more satisfying if all voters can express their true preference and not feel pressured to choose between what they think is the lesser of two evils.

More candidates competing in elections brings more innovative ideas into public debate and focuses candidates on appealing to voters versus party influencers.

Stronger Voice

Democracy is strongest when more voices are heard. Instant runoff voting can restore faith that our votes matter.

In 2020, Texas placed 44th among the states in voter turnout since 40% of Texas’ eligible voters stay home, according to the United States Elections Project at the University of Florida. The reasons typically given are either disliking the candidates on the ballot or believing that voting is ineffective. In fact, a Suffolk University study found that “a majority of those non-voters would like to see a third party or multiple parties”, providing more choice and competition. 

The competition we do have is sequestered within the party primary process. Today, a vote in a primary often has more impact than a vote in the general election. This pushes candidates to ideological extremes, promotes polarization and gridlock, and reduces the responsiveness of legislators to the general electorate.

More Issue-Focused, Less Negative Campaigning

In traditional elections, candidates believe they benefit from attacking an opponent’s character instead of sharing their positive vision with voters. With instant runoff voting, candidates do best when they reach out positively to as many voters as possible, including those supporting their opponents. Why? Because a candidate would like to be a voter’s second or third choice if not their first choice, giving candidates a reason to be more civil and issue-focused. A comprehensive Rutgers University poll of voters in 7 cities with instant runoff voting found that voters report friendlier campaigns and that IRV had majority support in all of the cities using it.

 

 

Instant Runoff Voting for Texas

IRV for Texas is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, volunteer-run organization. We advocate for adoption of instant runoff elections in Texas. Our approach is to pass incremental legislation so Texans can see how it works, one type of election at a time. We advocate to use instant runoffs for military and overseas voters, in primaries and special elections, and as a local option for nonpartisan municipal and school board elections.

Founded in the summer of 2019, we have a 501(c)(3) organization for our voter education efforts and a 501(c)(4) organization for legislative advocacy. We educate and rally support from the general public so supporters and volunteers can persuade legislators to pass enabling legislation.

We Are

We are moms, dads, millennials, retirees, problem solvers, and dog lovers, ....

We are oil and gas executives, engineers, professors, project managers, graphic designers, and software engineers, ...

We are advocates, concerned citizens, and election judges, …

And we are believers in a vibrant, competitive, inclusive democracy just as our Founding Fathers intended.

Texas - We're Like a Whole Other Country!

Instant Runoff Voting for Texas supports the use of ranked choice voting (RCV) in the elections where it is permitted, but our work in Texas is different from the RCV campaigns you may have heard about in the news. What we are doing in Texas is different both in the objective we are trying to achieve and the process by which we will achieve it.

Our objective in Texas is different than other places. In Texas, we are not advocating for “open primaries;” we already have them. And we are not proposing to use Instant Runoff Voting in partisan general elections, which do not require a majority to win. Read More

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