With all the talk about Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) in general elections, I would like to propose IRV within the Dem party. I mean that every nomination for elected office and every party office should be subject to IRV. It will solve much of the fragmentation problems within our party and best of all, there is a realistic way to get it.
Why: IRV will increase inclusion and it is more realistic to get IRV passed at the party level than it is at the government level.
The Problem: The Dems leadership, on all levels, takes for granted progressives, women, and minorities. After all, they know that they have the majority of those demographics. Its the fickle swing voter that they need. But the truth is that we don’t have all the votes that we could have from these groups. The tiny Green Party of New Hampshire could have swung the presidential election of 2000 to Gore. The percentage of African-American voter turnout hovers in the 30’s. And we do not have a lock on the Hispanic vote. If we were more inclusive of our ‘base’, we would not be so beholden to mega-corporate-tv-bucks to woo the swing voter.
Inclusion: As we know, IRV encourages people to vote their hopes and not their fears. IRV empowers people with voice. But what is more tactically important is that IRV will bring more people out to vote in the primaries (read – grassroots building). So even if the party nominee for a particular office is an older white man (OWM) (btw, I am one), that OWM will have hard numbers in front of him that will move him to include marginalized people on his platform.
Reality: While I applaud those who are pushing for IRV in general elections, the best bang for the buck would be to push for IRV within the Dem party. There are fewer procedural hurdles and there are no Repubs to get in the way. If we can get IRV in just a handful of Dem states and show a stronger turnout, then that will be a ‘deliverable’ to the rest of the nation.
The Plan: As an activist in my hometown of Ashville, NC, I have access to local progressive leaders. Our Dem state chair, Jerry Meek, is a progressive. I will lobby these good folks on this issue and post the progress on this diary. If you want to get on board with this, please post your progress to this diary.