Tuesday, March 24, 2009

City Council Runoff

Because I live in Burlington's Ward 7, I got to vote again for City Councilor because the March 3 election was not decisive.  As I walked into the building formerly known as the Gosse Court Armory this morning with my spouse and two children (ages 2 and 5, on our way to work, day care, and school, respectively), one of the candidates asked me what I thought of IRV.  My response was that if we had IRV for all elections, I wouldn't have to be there this morning.  To further elaborate: we wouldn't have to waste the taxpayer time and money that goes into having a runoff election if we had IRV for all city elections.  IRV does not mean you get "multiple" votes, any more than a person who voted for Ellie Blais in the March 3 election gets "multiple" votes by participating in the March 24 runoff.  IRV does mean that we make the most efficient use of taxpayer time and funds by having a single election date, and to be against IRV is to be against "holding the line" on City spending.  

To candidates Vincent Dober and Eli Lesser-Goldsmith: I thank you both for running for City Council, and ask the winner to work with your fellow Councilors to get an item on next year's Town Meeting ballot so that IRV is used for all City elections.  Get it done, and you've got my vote in the next election.

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