IRV needed for Mayor race

We need Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) for the Mayoral election. With three candidates in the race, someone can win with less than a majority of the votes. But the question always arises: was that winning candidate really preferred by most voters? Our County Supervisor race has a second round runoff election if no candidate gets over 50% of the vote on the first round. We could achieve the same goal in a single election by using Instant Runoff Voting (IRV).

Instant Runoff Voting is better than plurality elections because:
* It ensures the election of the candidate preferred by most voters.
* It eliminates the problem of spoiler candidates knocking off major candidates.
* It frees communities of voters from splitting their vote among their own candidates.
* It promotes coalition-building and more positive campaigning.
* IRV is better than "two-round" runoff elections because taxpayers don't have to foot the bill for a second election. Also candidates don't have to raise money for two races.

How IRV Works: Each voter has one vote, and ranks candidates in order of choice (1, 2, 3). Counting of ballots is like a series of run-off elections. All first choices are counted, and if no candidate wins a majority of first choices, then the last place candidate (candidate with the least first-choices) is eliminated. Ballots of voters who ranked the eliminated candidate first then are redistributed to their next-choice candidates, as indicated on each voter's ballot. Last place candidates are successively eliminated and ballots are redistributed to next choices until one candidate remains or a candidate gains over 50% of votes.

Voters have the option to rank as many or as few candidates as they wish--their favorite candidate first, their next favorite second and so on. Voters have every incentive to vote for their favorite candidate rather than the "lesser of two evils" because their ballot can still count toward a winner if their first choice loses. There also is every reason for a voter to rank as many candidates as they want, since a voter's lower choice will never help defeat one of their higher choices.

For example, Ms. Blue gets 38% of the vote, Ms. Red gets 37% and Ms. Orange gets 25%. Let's say most people voting for Ms. Orange pick Ms. Red as their second choice. So the runoff election results would be Ms. Blue 40% and Ms. Red 60%. With IRV, the winner represents the majority of voters' first or second choices.

IRV is used to determine the Academy Awards winners, the Utah Republican Primary, the Parliament in Australia and the President of Ireland. San Francisco voters will use IRV for their Mayor and Supervisors. We should elect the Mayor of San Luis Obispo using Instant Runoff Voting.