"The right of voting for representation is the primary right by which other rights are protected."
-- Thomas Paine --

Burlington Vermont, a city of 40,000 has a Mayor with a Three-year term and 7 Ward Counselors with Two-year terms. The Mayor is elected in a city-wide Instant Runoff (IRV) election while each counselor is elected within their perspective ward. On March 7, 2006, the city will elect a Mayor using Instant Runoff Voting for the first time.

Five candidates for Mayor will compete on an IRV ballot that gives citizens an opportunity to express their "ranked" choice. An Associated Press article says "For the first time in a mayoral election in the United States, voters will mark their ballots for their favorite candidate, along with their second, third, fourth and fifth choices". That puts Burlington Vermont, along with San Fransisco County, California, on the cutting edge of election reform in America.

Click on the following link to access the Burlington City Government's IRV Voting Page. You can also access a Question and Answer page there. They've also got an nice Flash animation describing how the process works.

In March of 2005, Burlington held an election for Council. A 25.7% turnout of 29,391 voters elected seven councilors without Mayor running and drawing voters in.

Burlington had 24,991 voters registered as of election day on March 7, 2006 of which 9783 voters turned out in this historic vote. Alas, that's a whopping 39.1% of the vote. The vote is conducted on optical scanners provided by "Accu-vote" a subsidiary of Dibold.

So, Here is What Happened in Burlington

On March 7, 2006 9788 citizens turned out to vote in the first mayoral election run under Instant Runoff Voting. Five candidate were running for the office of Mayor. Additionally, a new City Council and 4 ballot measures were voted on. After the polls closed the tally (below) was compiled with no clear 50%+ majority. That's when IRV kicks in. Candidates who have no mathematical chance of winning are eliminated, in this case Curly, Beaudin and "Loyal Ploof" along with the write-ins.

First the Raw First Ballot Results by Ward

Burlington, Vermont IRV Mayoral Election Mar. 7, 2006
Reg. Ward Voters
3738
3120
3923
3436
3819
3471
3484
24991
Mayor
Ward 1
Ward 2
Ward 3
Ward 4
Ward 5
Ward 6
Ward 7
Total
% Voters
% Total
H. Miller (Dem)
306
164
287
676
604
524
546
3107
31.8%
12.4%
K. Curley (Rep)
154
115
213
757
351
258
763
2611
26.7%
10.4%
R. Kiss (Prog)
467
456
637
550
676
546
479
3811
39.0%
39.0%
L. Ploof (Grn)
6
11
14
6
10
7
4
58
0.6%
0.2%
L. Beaudin (Ind)
5
20
19
22
15
8
30
119
1.2%
0.5%
Overvotes
0
0.0%
0.0%
Undervotes
7
8
14
16
10
7
15
77
0.8%
0.3%
Percent Votes Cast
4.9%
5.3%
5.6%
15.1%
10.1%
8.2%
10.0%
Reg.Voters:
24991
Percent Total Voters
3.8%
3.1%
4.7%
8.1%
6.7%
5.4%
7.4%
39.1%
Ballots Cast:
9783
Percent Nobody
1.5%
2.5%
2.6%
1.1%
1.0%
0.9%
1.1%
0.8%
% Turnout:
39.1%
Ward Votes
945
774
1184
2027
1666
1350
1837
1 Candidate Council Race
% Turnout
25.3%
24.8%
30.2%
59.0%
43.6%
38.9%
52.7%
2 Candidate Council Race
Council Votes
797
629
1114
1014
1337
1257
1818
4 Candidate Council Race
% Council Votes
21.3%
20.2%
28.4%
29.5%
35.0%
36.2%
52.2%

 

Now, What Happened to the Votes?

ROUND 1 -- Tally of 1st place votes.

CANDIDATE THIS ROUND TOTAL STATUS
Bob Kiss +3809  3809   CONTINUING
Hinda Miller +3106  3106   CONTINUING
Kevin J. Curley +2609  2609   DEFEATED -- 1st round
Louie The Cowman Beaud. +119  119   DEFEATED -- 1st round
Write-ins +78  78   DEFEATED -- 1st round
Loyal Ploof +57  57   DEFEATED -- 1st round
EXHAUSTED PILE: +10  10   
TOTALS: +9788  9788   
Kevin J. Curley is declared DEFEATED, as his/her defeat was mathematically inevitable.
Louie The Cowman Beaudin is declared DEFEATED, as his/her defeat was mathematically inevitable.
Write-ins is declared DEFEATED, as his/her defeat was mathematically inevitable.
Loyal Ploof is declared DEFEATED, as his/her defeat was mathematically inevitable.


Next, the first choice votes were removed from the tally in preparation for the change of those to their voters second -choice. Here Bob Kiss of the Progressive Party and Hinda Miller of the Democratic Party remain. Kevin Curly of the Republican Party was eliminated because he was without a mathimatical chance of gaining a gaining enough to win. Thus the 254 votes that would have been redistributed if he had remained were not enough to prevent him from being eliminated in the next round. The elimination of all cadidates without a possible winning scenario consolidates the number of rounds without spoiling the outcome.

ROUND 2 -- Transferring all votes simultaneously from all defeated candidates.

CANDIDATE THIS ROUND TOTAL STATUS
Bob Kiss +952  4761   ELECTED -- 2nd round
Hinda Miller +880  3986   CONTINUING
Kevin J. Curley -2609  0   DEFEATED -- 1st round
Louie The Cowman Beaud. -119  0   DEFEATED -- 1st round
Write-ins -78  0   DEFEATED -- 1st round
Loyal Ploof -57  0   DEFEATED -- 1st round
EXHAUSTED PILE: +1031  1041   
TOTALS: 0  9788   
Bob Kiss has been ELECTED because s/he has a majority of the remaining votes.


Bob Kiss wins with a 54.4% majority of viable votes. 1041 ballots were exhausted before the final tally. These were ballots that did not place a second-choice or that chose an already eliminated candidate. (Note: The term DEFEATED is one of the Clerk of Burlington)

ROUND 3 -- Hinda Miller is declared DEFEATED, because all of the seats have been filled.

CANDIDATE THIS ROUND TOTAL STATUS
Bob Kiss 0  4761   ELECTED -- 2nd round
Hinda Miller 0  3986   DEFEATED -- 3rd round
Kevin J. Curley 0  0   DEFEATED -- 1st round
Louie The Cowman Beaud. 0  0   DEFEATED -- 1st round
Write-ins 0  0   DEFEATED -- 1st round
Loyal Ploof 0  0   DEFEATED -- 1st round
EXHAUSTED PILE: 0  1041   
TOTALS: 0  9788   
Hinda Miller is declared DEFEATED, because all of the seats have been filled.