Burlington, Vermont - February 8, 2010
Burlington city councilors held the second of two public hearings about Instant Runoff Voting.
In March, voters will get to decide whether or not to keep the IRV system as the way to elect their mayor. That ballot question also lowers the threshold of victory to 40-percent.
Only three people spoke at Monday night's hearing, all in favor of keeping IRV and keeping the threshold at 50 percent.
"Burlington has not had a runoff election, the reason why is because the previous method required only 40-percent, which means that 60-percent of the people did not vote for the person in office," said Keri Toksu of the League of Women Voters.
"Majority rule is important, 50-percent does matter and giving voters as much choice as possible matters. It's one of the things that makes our city particularly vibrant," said Chris Person who supports IRV.
This was the last scheduled city hearing on IRV, but Channel 17 will be holding a forum on the issue next Thursday evening, and it will be co-hosted by our own Bianca Slota.
