Editor:

On Aug. 26, Fairhope held a municipal election for City Council and mayoral candidates. None of the mayoral candidates got a majority of the votes, and in one of the five City Council places, a candidate did not get a majority of the votes.

Consequently, two of the candidates for mayor, and two of the candidates for City Council (i.e. those two receiving the largest number of votes in those two races) have to spend another six weeks of campaigning, and incur another six weeks of campaign expenses. And we, the residents of Fairhope, have to endure another six weeks of yard signs, campaign commercials and delay in moving ahead on important municipal issues that need to be attended to.

It did not have to be this way.

If Fairhope had an election system known as Instant Runoff Voting,” we could have elected our mayor and all the City Council members way back on Aug. 26, with just one election, without the time, annoyance and expense of a second election campaign that we (and the four candidates) are now suffering through.

Had Instant Runoff Voting been in place for the municipal election, it would have worked like this:

For those offices where there were three or more candidates, we could have cast a vote for our first choice for that office. Then, we could have cast our choice for our second choice for that office. We could have voted for our third and fourth choice too, if we had wanted to.

When the votes were tallied at the end of the day, if one of the candidates got 50 percent of the votes plus one, that candidate would have been declared the winner.

If, however, none of the candidates received a majority of the first choice votes, the candidate receiving the fewest first choice votes is eliminated. Ballots cast for the eliminated candidate would then be counted toward those voters’ second choices. This process continues until one candidate receives a majority and is elected.

There are many countries throughout the world that use Instant Runoff Voting, and a number of cities within the United States that do. Certainly Fairhope could, if we were authorized to.

We the citizens should demand that the Alabama State Legislature pass legislation (or allow a vote for an Alabama Constitutional amendment) authorizing Instant Runoff Voting for municipal and county elections in Baldwin County.

Fairhope resident