In the wake of a charter commission recommendation and a vote of the city council last year, Santa Fe, New Mexico (a city of more than 60,000 people) voted on adoption of instant runoff voting (there called "ranked choice voting"). It faced some obstacles, including a decision by the daily newspaper to oppose the measure "for now" after supporting it in principle.

But chalk up another landslide win. The votes are counted, and local backers -- led by Voting Matters (http://www.votingmatters.net) -- are celebrating, having won with 65% of the vote.

Instant runoff voting is a new enough idea that you can't simply throw it on the ballot and win just anywhere. But it keeps winning big and getting great reactions from voters that get to use it -- and it speaks powerfully to ways we can improve our politics. We've got a tiger by the tail.