A Tale of Two Elections - Instant Runoff or Traditional Runoff

Instant Runoff Voting/Ranked Choice Voting or Traditional Runoff Elections Which are Best? NC Muni Elections Surprise - A Tale of Two Elections   Big Surprise results, how the IRV pilot program impacted one election and how it would have impacted another. How IRV helped candidate affiliated to the defeated mayor get elected in one city, and how the traditional runoff system resulted in more voters turning out and a doubling of one candidate's votes.   The moral of this story is that nothing trumps real grassroots effort, engaging the voters and messaging - forget gimmicks if you want to win!   Well, all municipal elections are done now in NC. We have a chance to compare IRV "runoff" to Traditional "runoff" elections as conducted in our state.  The two cities:  Cary North Carolina (IRV) and Rocky Mt North Carolina (Traditional Runoff) In Cary, NC an IRV runoff produced a more conservative winner, and in Hendersonville, a traditional runoff saved the African American majority on the city council and beat the better funded conservative candidate.   Cary North Carolina had an "instant" runoff for District B's City Council race.  Rapid development or out of control growth was the main issue. The voters threw out the pro development mayor and replaced him with a "slow growth" mayor who had 1/10 the campaign funding.   But, through the IRV "runoff", a city council member closely allied with the Mayor actually won.  Critics say that with a traditional runoff, candidate Vickie Maxwell would likely have won, because supporters of the new mayor would have helped campaign for her in a regular runoff, and she would have pulled ahead: http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/columns/story/753961.html The runoff election,  held Tuesday, Nov. 6 had a higher turnout than the October election.    Lois Watkins, had less votes than Tom Looney in the October election, nearly doubled her vote count in the runoff, helping her to victory. C. Dancy II - TPA Opinion: "This is what happens when one runs an aggressive grassroots campaign. These types of campaigns will beat out cash any day especially when you have a person in your camp such as Rocky Mount Councilman Andre Knight who really worked hard. Others worked hard as well. ...I feel strongly that Watkins would no longer be on the council if the council had chosen to use the IRV in this year's election. The State Board of Elections came to Rocky Mount several months ago and met with the Nash and Edgecombe Board of Elections trying to sell it to them but they didn't sign on." http://www.triadblogs.com/curmilus/6185/ The city of Rocky Mt NC held a runoff election for the Ward B City Council race because the Oct 9 election didn't produce a clear winner. The turnout for the Ward B Contest in October was 1,230 voters, and in increased to 1,678 votes in the November runoff.   The runoff pitted incumbent Lois Watkins against Tom Looney .   Election Factoids:   Lois Watkins - Winner, beat Tom Looney by 320 votes raised $13,000 for her campaign, votes received on Oct 9 - 565 votes received on Nov 6 - 999 difference increase - 434   Tom Looney, raised $77,000, votes received on Oct 9 - 577 votes received on Nov 6 - 679 difference increase - 102   Election summary - ward 4 Total Oct 9 turnout - 1,230 votes Total Nov 6 runoff  - 1,678 votes Difference increase -   448 votes   Grassroots activism is what elected Lois Watkins, not money, not anything else, just strong interest by the electorate.    Councilwoman wins by big margin    Click-2-Listen   By Eric Klamut Rocky Mount Telegram Wednesday, November 07, 2007 Councilwoman Lois Watkins claimed victory Tuesday night in the highly anticipated runoff election in Ward 4 for Rocky Mount City Council, Watkins received 999 votes over former three-term Councilman Tom Looney's 679 votes. The 320-vote advantage allowed Watkins to keep her seat on council. Watkins, 51, awaited election results surrounded by friends, family and community members at Hyman Battle Community Center. "The voters put me here this time," she said. "In walking the ward they shared their hearts with me. They supplied the platform (with their concerns)." Several members of the City Council, including Lamont Wiggins, Andre Knight and Reuben Blackwell, were on hand to congratulate Watkins. Turnout for Tuesday's runoff outpaced the city's Oct. 9 elections. Many of the 1,678 votes were cast during no-excuse, one-stop voting. In last month's election, Watkins received 565 votes to Looney's 577. A third candidate, Earl Hall, earned 88 votes in the Ward 4 race, for a total of 1,230 votes. The narrow margin between Looney and Watkins of just 12 votes prompted the runoff, which Watkins filed for on Oct. 11. Watkins said because she did not raise a large amount of money while campaigning, many people thought that she would not have a chance in last month's election. "A lot of people thought I wouldn't have a snowball's chance in hell," Watkins said. "Money wasn't an issue." Watkins raised about $13,000, while Looney raised more than $77,000. With the high number of votes in the runoff election, Watkins said the tally showed she garnered both the support of the white and black communities in Ward 4. "Getting support from the black and white communities demonstrates the ability to work together," she said. "It's good that both blacks and whites recognize that I'm sincere and will fight for them. I'm real proud of the ward." Following the unofficial election results, Looney, 72, said although he came up short in votes, he feels his campaign was a success. "Our campaign was extremely well-organized," he said. "I felt it was run with dignity and honor. I had many excellent workers who presented themselves well." Looney said that at the moment, he is not considering running for the seat in four years, "I wish Ms. Watkins well," he said. Watkins thanked Looney for a "clean and decent" campaign. "I applaud him for all his years of service," she said. http://www.rockymounttelegram.com/search/content/news/stories/2007/11/07/ward4.html