Do you tell people there is a better way to vote? Do you walk around town wearing a CfER t-shirt? Well, however you get the conversation started, people are likely to ask you what IRV is, and what PR is. It is very important to have simple answers to both questions. Here are one sentence explanations of IRV and PR from a number of CfER activists. If you don't already have your own, you can use one of these or take one and modify it.

Now, after you give your one sentence answer, you should expect follow up questions. After you pick your favorite sentence from the set below think about what questions are likely to follow, and prepare answers to those. At any point, you can always tell someone that you don't know the answer, but you will find out and get back to them.

Thanks for supporting PR and IRV, and CfER!

Steve Chessin: "IRV provides for a majority winner in a single election, without the need for an expensive runoff election.

"Proportional representation is majority rule with fair representation for the electoral minority, in direct proportion to the way people vote."

A quote from political scientist Kathleen Barber, submitted by Jonathan Lundell: "Proportional representation is a simple principle, derived from democratic theory, that in a representative body the share of seats won should correspond to the share of votes won."

Jim Lindsay: "Instant Runoff Voting is a voting system that guarantees a majority winner in a single election.

"Proportional representation means using a voting system that provides for fair representation, based on how the voters vote."

Pete Martineau: "Instant Runoff Voting greatly increases your chances of voting for a candidate that gets elected, giving you representation in your government.

"Proportional representation is used by most representative governments as the chances are very high that the voter can choose candi- dates that get elected, giving the voter representation,while in US elections, an average of 40% of voters get no representation."

Joe Nemec: "Instant Runoff Voting encourages higher voter turnout by allowing votes for true feelings and/or first choice -- without fear of it defaulting to his OPPOSITE ideology."

Chuck O'Neil: "IRV is a method of voting that combines a primary and runoff election into one election cycle while still assuring that the winner has a majority of the votes.

"PR is a group of election systems that allow most voters to gain representation on the issues important to them in proportion to the voters who support those issues."

Casey Peters: "IRV allows each voter to enumerate his or her preferences among choices on the ballot, and if the voter’s first pref-erence is unpopular that choice will be eliminated and the second preference activated until one choice gains support from a majority of voters.

"PR gives every voter the right to a voice in government by electing legislators in proportion to their support in the electorate rather than mere geographical representation that forces many voters to accept representation by someone who opposes them politically."

Jim Stauffer: "IRV uses a process of ranking candidates to more accurately derive the most favored candidate in a single-seat election without the expense of a run-off election, while also eliminating the 'spoiler' effect, reducing negative campaigning and campaign costs, and encouraging voter turnout.

"Proportional Representation uses a process of ranking candidates in a multi-seat election that provides representation to a broader range of constituencies, while eliminating gerrymandering, eliminating the 'spoiler' effect, reducing negative campaigning and campaign costs, and encouraging voter turnout."

C.T. Weber: "PR is when groups, organizations or parties are represented in legislative bodies in direct proportion to the votes received in the general election.

"IRV allows each voter to rank the candidates in order of preference in order to obtain an absolute majority without the need for an expensive runoff election, by eliminating the candidate with the fewest votes and having those votes distributed to lower choices until a candidate has a majority of 50% plus one."

Richard Winger: "Instant Runoff Voting lets voters indicate a first choice and a second choice, so as to avoid the need for a separate run-off later on if no one gets 50% the first time.

"Proportional representation gives each party the same share of seats in a legislative body as the percentage of people who voted for it in the election."