Washington State House Democrats

House again endorses Moeller’s legislation for instant-runoff voting

Lawmaker wins support for bill aimed at giving voters more choice

March 9, 2005

OLYMPIA — The full House of Representatives last night (March 8) endorsed state Rep. Jim Moeller’s plan to give Vancouver voters a chance to test-drive a system of instant-runoff voting (IRV).

By a vote of 63-34, the House passed House Bill 1447 and sent it to the Senate.

Vancouver will probably be the city selected for a five-year instant-runoff-voting pilot project.

Moeller noted that neither Vancouver nor any other Washington city, however, will be forced to install the cutting-edge election system. Local elected officials must demonstrate

support for instant-runoff voting by approving a city-charter amendment to authorize the city council to use IRV for the election of nonpartisan city officers.

"The goal of my legislation is to see if this type of election procedure for nonpartisan offices would be a good option for our Washington communities," said Moeller, D-Vancouver.

"Although instant-runoff voting is used all over the world, our current state law prevents using it anywhere here in Washington. Most Vancouver citizens already support the idea," he pointed out. "It would reduce election costs, and it would recharge our citizens’ interest in the voting process."

In the IRV system, Moeller explained, a candidate wins outright if he or she captures a majority of the votes (more than 50 percent of the votes cast in the election) — rather than simply a plurality of the votes (more total votes than any other candidate).

A typical instant-runoff-voting system calls on a voter to select more than one candidate for a single race. Candidates are ranked in preferential order, and the one receiving a majority of "first choice" votes wins. If no candidate receives such a majority after the first count, the "second choice" designations on the ballots that were cast for the candidate receiving the least amount of votes become votes for the candidates who were so indicated in the first count.

This process goes on until a candidate receives a majority of votes cast for the position, or until all but one candidate is eliminated.

Moeller’s legislation directs the secretary of state to conduct a pilot project with at least one Washington charter city (working with the county auditor). The city would then spend the next five years taking a close look at the instant-runoff system.

The second-term legislator championed similar IRV bills in the last two legislative sessions. Although the Senate in the past has balked at endorsing his idea, Moeller said he’s more optimistic this year.

"Vancouver people support it. Their Vancouver city government supports it. And the citizen group Coalition for Instant Runoff Voting supports it."