Dick Dadey, Executive Director of Citizen Union.

A runoff election held weeks after a primary election always results in depressingly low voter turnout.  Citizens Union supports instituting an instant runoff voting system where voters rank their preferred candidates on the day of the primary rather than needing to return to cast another ballot on a subsequent election day two to three weeks later.  This would ensure that the winning candidate enjoys broad electoral support, as well as avoiding the logistical and financial burdens of runoff elections that often yield low voter turnout.

Read these numbers associated with the October 1, 2013 run-off election for Public Advocate:  $13 million spent.  Only 202,000 voters voted out of a possible 3,140,000 voters.  The turnout was 6.5%. (read more…)