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NATIONALLY-KNOWN DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST GRANNY D AND TRIANGLE FOUNDATION ENDORSE FERNDALE FOR INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact by phone: Howard Ditkoff at 248-968-9995
Or
Tom Ness at 248-336-9241
Contact by email: contact@firv.org
Website: http://www.firv.org
NATIONALLY-KNOWN DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST GRANNY D AND TRIANGLE FOUNDATION ENDORSE FERNDALE FOR INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING
Ferndale, MI – May 17, 2004 – Joining a growing and prestigious list, the acclaimed democracy activist, "Granny D," and Michigan's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights group, the Triangle Foundation, both endorsed FERNDALE FOR INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING (F-IRV) this week.
In coming weeks, F-IRV will ask the Ferndale City Council to put IRV on the November ballot for the City's mayoral contests. F-IRV hopes that successful implementation in Ferndale will lead to its adoption in other cities, and eventually statewide implementation where it could be used for presidential races.
Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), allows voters the advantage of ranking their choice of candidates one-two-three. If no candidate receives a simple majority after the first round, the bottom candidate is dropped out and their ballots are re-allocated based on their second choices. The process continues until a candidate has demonstrated majority support. Thus, IRV is an improvement over the current plurality system where candidates are often elected with considerably less than 50%. IRV also saves money by replacing the need for runoffs or primaries, along with several other advantages.
IRV also eliminates the "spoiler" paradox, where similar candidates split the majority, with the least popular candidate being elected. Many political experts believe that Ralph Nader "spoiled" the 2000 presidential election and may be poised to repeat that result in 2004. Additionally, Ross Perot is widely considered to have spoiled the 1992 presidential race.
Sean Kosofsky, Director of Policy for Triangle, said, "True democracy is alive when citizens have real choices, and Instant Runoff Voting seems to be common sense for voters who want to vote their conscience."
Doris "Granny D" Haddock, currently touring the nation at age 94 on a massive voter registration drive and author of "Walking Across America in My 90th Year," said "What you are doing here with Instant Runoff Voting is a part of a necessary revolution towards a human-scaled politics. I encourage you to make it work here, and then spread it to other communities from here. I wish it were in place for this election!"
Ms. Haddock is best known for walking 3,200 miles from coast to coast, at the age of 90, to promote campaign finance reform and the McCain-Feingold Act. When presidential candidate Al Gore adopted a campaign finance reform plank, his speech credited John McCain, Bill Bradley, and Doris Haddock. In a recent visit to Ferndale, Haddock gave an inspirational speech to the City Council, including remarks in favor of Ferndale's adoption of IRV for mayoral elections, before receiving the key to the city.
In coming weeks, F-IRV will ask the Ferndale City Council to put IRV on the November ballot for the City's mayoral contests. F-IRV hopes that successful implementation in Ferndale will lead to its adoption in other cities, and eventually statewide implementation where it could be used for presidential races.
For more information on F-IRV, visit http://www.firv.org
For more information on Instant Runoff Voting, visit http://www.fairvote.org/irv
View F-IRV's Other Press Releases
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