What if you live in New Mexico and want to vote for the Green Party candidate, but on election day decide to vote for one of the two major parties, because you feel you would “waste” your vote on a third party candidate who doesn’t have real a chance of winning? That dilemma is just one of the drawbacks of plurality voting rules that govern most U.S. elections. But, there is an alternative called “instant voter runoff.” The Green Party in New Mexico is advocating this electoral reform . Steve Curwood asked Rob Ritchie of the Center for Voting and Democracy in Washington, D.C. to explain how it would work.
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