Letter to the Editor re: Electoral System Reform 

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Nov. 10, 2005

Dear Editor:

In the District 12 Assembly race, the Republican team (Jennifer Beck/Declan O’Scanlon) defeated the Democratic team (Michael Panter/Robert Morgan) by a very slim margin, less than 1,500 votes. Meanwhile Green Party candidate Ann Napolitano received 2,303 votes and her running-mate, Judith Stanton, received 2,044 votes. Arguably, had the Green candidates not been in the race, the outcome would have been reversed, with the Democratic incumbents returning to the State Assembly.

Since 2000, when Ralph Nader was labeled a “spoiler” for “taking votes away” from Al Gore and thus influencing the presidential election, the Green Party has been urging the Democrats to help advocate for a solution to the “spoiler” problem. In the city of San Francisco, to cite one example, Greens and Democrats were successful in passing legislation for Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). This is a system where voters can rank their choices. If we had it in place for the last election, someone could have ranked Napolitano(GRN) #1, Panter(DEM) #2. In a first round of counting, if Napolitano had the fewest votes her ballots would be re-allocated according to their second-place choices. So the majority of ballots listing Napolitano as choice #1 probably would have gone to Panter in the second round of counting ... and Panter would have gained enough additional votes win.

In a race for a municipal office in San Francisco, there can no longer be a “spoiler” effect.

Also: Due to the presence of third party candidates in the race, Beck and O’Scanlon won without achieving a majority of votes. With IRV, where votes are reallocated round-by-round during the counting, all winning candidates do achieve majorities in the end.

The Green Party is not going away. It has a distinct message - for ecology and renewal of community - which resonates with more and more voters. Our electoral system could be opened up to accommodate “more voices and more choices” (as Ralph Nader said) and everyone could benefit, even the major parties, if reforms like Instant Runoff Voting were adopted.

Steve Welzer

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