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The History of IRV a series of primary elections in which alternate preference votes happened to play no role in determining the winner, this voting procedure was eclipsed in all four states. By the 1930's all of these preference voting systems had been replaced by other primary election reforms, including the use of a second, or runoff primary in the event of a non-majorityoutcome. STV became a key element of the municipal reform movement of the 1920's, and eventually 23 U.S. cities adopted proportional representation for council and school board elections. In these cities, one would thinlc IRV would have been a natural for electing a mayor, since proportionality is moot with an inherently single seat election. Instead, the reform movement of the day pushed for abolishing the mayor's office, preferring a city manager form of government. The next use of IRV in the U.S. came in 1975 in Ann Arbor Michigan. The presence in Ann Arbor of a third party, the Human Rights Party, created lively three-way elections with concerns about splintering the vote. The election of the first ever African-American Democrat as mayor on the strength of second-choice votes transferred from the Human Rights Party candidate, prompted an effort by Republicans, the beneficiaries of split liberal votes with plurality rules, to eliminate the system. A legal challenge failed as the court upheld the IRV law. Since, in this particular case, it was the incumbent Republican Mayor who would have won under the old plurality rules, the Republicans led a repeal effort. Currently, several states in which third party politics are creating splintered vote situations for the major parties, IRV is being considered. In New Mexico, where the Green Party and Democratic Party have split the "liberal" vote, giving Republicans 43% plurality wins, the Democratic Party is actively pursuing IRV. In Alaslca, where a Perot-style independent party has "spoiled" Republican races, the Republicans are interested in IRV. The New Mexico State Senate came close to approving a constitutional amendment in 1998 to allow IRV with a favorable vote in the Rules Committee and a tie vote in the subsequent committee. Unlilce Vermont, the constitution of New Mexico specifies that the plurality candidate must be declared elected. The single transferable vote is a more common voting procedure in the U.S. than most of us realize. Even the Academy Awards uses STV in determiningtheir finalists. The American Political Science Association (APSA), the organization of political science professors, uses IRV to elect their national president, since political scientists understand that IRV is the fairest and simplest way to elect a single winner from a field of candidates. Contents Glossarv of Terms => Page 2 of 3 http://fairvote.org/irv/vt_lite/history.htm �?�: �1�1�4