WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-IRV Opponents Want Special Election
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Burlington, Vermont - April 29, 2009
A group of about 20 Instant Runoff Voting opponents met, Wednesday night, to discuss how they can go about getting rid of the voting system in Burlington. They say IRV is a confusing and unfair system, and most are upset about the results of the March mayoral election when Progressive Bob Kiss was re-elected despite finishing second on the initial ballot.
Organizers have started a petition for a special election on the issue, but there was debate about whether a special election is the way to go.
"The bigger issue is that special elections have very low voter turnout and with any issue you want to have good voter turnout," said Keri Toksu, who actually supports IRV but does think Burlington residents should get a chance to vote on whether to keep it. "There's no reason for this not to be put on the ballot in March."
"The concern about having it on another March ballot is it would just get lost in ten other items and we'd like to see an election that is devoted solely to this question and would generate a whole lot of interest and a whole lot of discussion and a lot of education on the part of the electorate," countered Maurice Mahoney, one of the group's organizers.
So far the opponents have gathered about 900 signatures. They need about 1,700 in order to get the issue on the ballot.
Bianca Slota - WCAX News
