"Last April the Vermont House of Representatives unanimously adopted House Resolution 37 establishing a Vermont Commission to Study Preference Voting. This commission is to advise the House on an election reform proposal. One task of the Commission is to increase public awareness of this alternative voting system by conducting demonstration mock elections in schools around Vermont. The nonpartisan, nonprofit Center for Voting and Democracy based in Washington, D.C. is helping to fund this effort."

Q. "What is democracy?"

A. Self governance by the people, instead of king or dictator

A. Rule by the majority

A. But with protecting the rights of the minority (distinguishes it from mob rule)

"It’s clear that if the king wants policy A and the people want policy B - in a democracy you get policy B. But what if some people want policy B but others want C, D, E, and even A? You could try to hold some kind of referendum, but since there are countless policy decisions to be made (How much should we spend on the military? How much should we let factories pollute the air? Should all citizens get access to health care? Etc.), all democracies elect some kind of legislature to decide policy and some sort of executive (a president or prime minister) to carry out that policy.

"Now let’s talk about how we should elect a president or governor. Our first demonstration election will be electing a president. Through the miracle of genetics and cloning it has been decided to recreate one of our presidents from history to be president. Through a complicated nominating process, where a lot of money has been thrown around, and that only a tiny minority of Americans have participated in, two candidates are on the ballot."

"You have the democratic right to choose between Millard Fillmore, 13th president of the United States, and Richard Nixon. Which do you think was the greatest president? Raise your hands for Fillmore . . . for Nixon.

"Is this a democratic process and outcome? What’s wrong? Should there have been more choices?

"O.K. now we’ll have a demonstration election with more than just two choices. We’re going to vote on what color uniforms your sports teams are all going to have to wear. This side of the room (about 40%) like warm colors, especially red, any shade of red. So when you get your ballot, vote for red. This side (about 60%) like cool colors, especially blue, any shade of blue. So when you get your ballot vote for blue"

"Now mark your ballot, but keep your vote a secret."

"It looks like Cherry Red won. Is that a democratic outcome? Red got what’s called the plurality, the greatest number of votes, but failed to get a majority, that is more than half. For most elections in the U.S. a majority is not required. But, would you agree that determining which color a majority prefer would be more democratic?

"We’re going to try to invent a system of finding out which color is most preferred. Everybody get up and go stand next to the color you just voted for. When I say ‘go’ you can stick with your choice or switch and move to another color (your second choice) and keep changing until you are satisfied. Now this color got the fewest votes so you’re not likely to win. You may want to abandon it and pick another shade of blue. At the end of one minute we’ll see if any color gets a majority, or if red will still win. Go."

"There is a voting system used around the world that follows that same logic of transferring votes from the candidate with no chance of winning to a second or subsequent choice. Basically giving your ballot marching orders. In the United States it’s called Preference, choice, or Instant Runoff Voting. The essence of preference voting is the Single Transferable Vote (STV), also referred to as the Hare procedure, which was developed by Thomas Hare in England and Carl George Andrae in Denmark in the 1850s. This system has been used throughout the U. S., primarily in municipal elections. It was advocated by the founder of the League of Women Voters, Carrie Chapman Catt. It’s been used for over 70 years in Australia, and to elect the president of Ireland. This system of voting is currently being considered for statewide races in Vermont. Let’s try it."

"Here is a wider range of candidates for our cloned president. You should rank them in your order of preference. Remember, indicating a second choice won’t help defeat your first choice. Your ballot is only transferred to your second choice if your first choice is the bottom vote-getter and has no chance to win anyway. Now write a numeral ‘1' in the circle next to your favorite choice. If that candidate were now eliminated from the running put a ‘2' next to the candidate you would next prefer. Put a ‘3' next to your third choice and so on. In most cases it’s only your first second and maybe third choices that are likely to matter, but you might as well rank all of them if you have preferences between them. Advocates for this election reform use the slogan ‘It’s as easy as 1,2,3.’ Now mark your ballots. Since we’re not really worried about secrecy, don’t fold your ballots - that will just slow down the vote counting. Alright pass them in. I need four volunteers to count ballots."

"If we had a majority winner at this point the process would be over and we would have a winner. This candidate is the bottom vote-getter, and under the procedures of instant runoff voting, is eliminated. The voters who ranked that candidate first have to pick one of the remaining candidates - the same as in a runoff election. Rather than calling them back for a runoff election, we only need to look at their ballots."

"While this winner may not be the first-choice of a majority of you, he is preferred by a majority over any of the other candidates. This voting system, as you see, eliminates the problem of so-called ‘spoilers’ splitting the vote and eliminates the fear of wasting your vote on a candidate who may not have a good chance to win. With Instant Runoff Voting you don’t have to vote for ‘the lesser of two evils’ as long as enough candidates are running."

"If Instant Runoff Voting is a more democratic way of electing a single seat office like governor, what about electing a legislature? In our next election we’re going to elect a committee to select music for the next school dance. O.K. let’s hear some nomination of styles of music that could be played, e.g. hip hop, swing, reggae, techno, ... For demonstration purposes I’d like to limit it to three styles."

"Now imagine that there are ten students who are die-hard fans of this particular style, ten students for this style and ten for this one. Rather than listing all their names we’re making it simple by voting for their ‘party.’"

"Under the prevailing election laws used in Vermont and the U.S. all ten members of the committee will be X-enthusiasts, and every song at the dance will be in that style. Even if that slate got a majority of the vote, do you think their should be some members of the committee who favor these other styles? Most major democracies in the world use some form of proportional representation (PR) in electing their legislatures. Under PR election rules this committee would have a X% from this slate, Y% from this one, and Z% from this smallest minority. This allows majority rule but includes minority representation. The notion is that the legislature should be a microcosm of the electorate, including minorities. There are many different systems of PR, including one based on the preference ballot we used in the IRV election, but we don’t have time to look at the the details of how they work. But what effect do you think having a PR system would have on voter participation rates (currently less than half the eligible voters vote even in presidential elections)?"

"The main point I hope you have observed here is that voting systems are not neutral. There are more democratic and less democratic systems. We have only scratched the surface of the variety of voting systems used in democracies around the world. Thomas Jefferson said he hoped America would become a laboratory of Democracy. Prof. Douglas Amy, a national expert on this subject says we have instead become a museum of democracy - maintaining an antiquated, technologically backward system while the rest of the world has adopted more modern and democratic systems."

"We have to go, but I hope you can spend a few moments filling out these evaluation forms. They will help us improve this demonstration for other schools. Give them to your teacher and he/she will send them to us. Thank you."