It's Official: No IRV in Burlington

Governor Douglas was in town on Saturday - not for a ribbon cutting ceremony - but to sign H.773 into law. A low-key affair - I got there just in the knick of time - about a dozen or so Burlington residents watched the Governor with approval. Absent were Burlington state reps Mark Larson and Jason Lorber, who had lead the effort to keep IRV in Burlington and were co-sponsors of H.773 to make the charter change official. Saturday's event was not reported by the major Vermont news organisations, but Shay Totten was there, covering for the local pro-IRV "Progressive" newspaper. As Lea Terhune, one of the movers and shakers to remove IRV in Burlington wrote today in Facebook,

"IRV is over in Burlington. Localvores, take note: IRV is like other fast food fads -- not healthy (for democracy), not real (fake, manufactured majority), promoted by corporate marketing (FairVote, TrueBallot), advertising financed by national groups (FairVote, VPIRG probably a pass-through donation from an individual or group that wanted to remain secret). Repeal IRV was a local, grassroots campaign, ideas put forth in debate were local, not canned FairVote marketing promos, and traditional run-off elections may take a little longer and cost a little more -- but they are like home-made meals, made from scratch using home-grown foods. Celebrate democracy, and if necessary take a little more time to vote thoughtfully in a real runoff election."

WCAX: IRV repeal expected to sail through legislature

WCAX: Montpelier, Vermont - March 8, 2010:

IRV repeal expected to sail through legislature

Democratic leaders in the House and Senate say they are going to follow the will of Burlington voters and approve a charter change repealing Instant Runoff Voting. Some had been pushing for a delay on the vote.

When Burlington residents voted to repeal Instant Runoff Voting, it still needed to go through one more step to become final. The legislature must approve any charter change, and both leaders in the House and Senate say they will take it up and pass it.
"Our hope is to bring it forward as quickly as possible," said Rep. Shap Smith/D-Vt. House Speaker.

Sen. Peter Shumlin/D-Vt. Senate President Pro Tem: "I expect the legislature will move and support the will of the voters."

Reporter Kristin Carlson asked: "And that includes you?"

Sen. Shumlin replied, "Absolutely."

"It seems to me that the people of Burlington have spoken on this issue and I would concur with them on their viewpoint," said Rep. Smith.

A united front that hurts the effort of people still fighting to save IRV, and bolsters IRV opponents who had worried Progressives would seek a delay. Some had talked behind the scenes about trying to stall a legislative vote for a year, so Instant Runoff Voting could be brought back to Burlington residents. Both House and Senate Leaders say if there's a change, then they'll simply hold another vote.

"It's our job to follow the will of the voters and that's what we do here in charter change requests," said Sen. Shumlin.

In response Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss says he remains disappointed in the outcome of the IRV vote, but that the charter change is not his decision, it's the legislatures, and he will leave it to them.

City voters will decide repeal question

Indeed, the 50%Matters folks have establishment state and local politicians and state political organisations listed on their website as endorsers of continuing IRV. The audacity of it!: Trust us, we know better than you! This approach of deceiving the voters is much like what the pro-fluoridationists - CDC, ADA, etc. - used a few years ago in the Burlington referendum to remove fluoride, asking the voters to trust their authority - when the science was not on the side of water fluoridation. Repeal IRV in Burlington is a citizen initiative and not funded by groups outside Burlington.

Avoid a Tampering of Ballots on March 2: Vote in your Ward!

Vermont Election Laws

§ 2590. Securing and storing ballots, tally sheets and checklists

(c)
"Ballot bags or containers shall not be removed or tampered with in any other way, except under COURT ORDER, or by ORDER OF ANY AUTHORIZED COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

I am convinced that City Hall is so concerned about the Repeal IRV vote that they'll do anything to keep IRV in the city elections, even fraudulently!

When you vote in the March 2nd City Election, I urge people who want to repeal IRV to vote at their ward polling station. Don't vote at City Hall or by Absentee! The ballots are stored at City Hall and can be opened and changed!

(Remember, in March, 2008, it was ward 7 ballots boxes that Jonathan Leopold ordered Ben Pacy to break, three times, and all he got was a slapped wrist!)

Cross posted at Repeal IRV.

IRV - Let's Do the Numbers

A referendum whether to continue IRV (Instant Runoff Voting) in Burlington's mayoral elections will be on the March 2nd Town Meeting Ballot.

Watch the video below... an analysis of the 2009 Burlington mayoral election, which was an IRV election. Watch closely as the narrator does the numbers count for that election. Do you think tallying up the results is confusing? I know it's confusing! - I was in Contois Auditorium last March as the results were brought in from all 7 wards and "counted." Have you ever been tricked by a shell game?

LOCAL NEWS: THE NO ACCOUNT RECOUNT

Now is the Spring of our discontent....

Haik Bedrosian/BurlingtonPol.com had it first about Kurt Wright's call to end the IRV Mayoral Recount. The reasons for stopping the count last night are given in today's Burlington Free Press/Briggs story.

City Councilor Kurt Wright called off a recount Tuesday night and conceded his instant-runoff loss to Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss.

With about half of the wards tabulated, Wright congratulated Kiss on his victory and asked for the recount to be halted, Chief Administrative Officer Jonathan Leopold said late Tuesday.

Leopold said that with about 43 percent of the votes recounted, the difference between the hand count and the March 3 machine count was about five votes.

“It was clear that the totals were coming in so accurately compared to the machine count that it wasn’t going to affect the outcome,” Leopold said.

Wright said earlier in the day that he requested the recount, “not for me, but at the request of a tremendous amount of citizens who really strongly urged me to do it. I was ready to move on.”

Wright, a Republican, lost to Kiss by a final margin of 252 votes, 4,313 to 4,061 on March 3. That difference amounted to 2.8 percent of the 8,976 valid ballots cast, well within the 5 percent difference in votes established by the Legislature as the threshold for recounts. Only 27 percent of registered voters participated in the election.

Wright called for the recount, in part, to test the accuracy of the instant-runoff system that propelled Kiss, a Progressive, to re-election.

“I hope the recount will confirm the integrity of the process and give citizens a level of comfort with how the system works,” he said.

Huh?

This report doesn't jive with Wright's email to Haik last Friday:--

... I do agree with people like yourself Haik who believe this is the right opportunity to take a close look at how the system worked. This is not about me, it is about the process. I accept the result and am gratified to have come so close...

If Kurt had already accepted the results of the vote on March 3, why did he concede last night? He didn't think the recount would change the outcome. Clearly in his email to Haik, he wanted the recount to test the process. But how can we be contented with the process when when the recount was called off before completion? 43% is not "about half."

“It was clear that the totals were coming in so accurately compared to the machine count that it wasn’t going to affect the outcome,” Leopold said.

When the recount was halted, we were told that the difference was 5 votes. How can it be claimed that "the totals were coming in so accurately"? How does this compare to other recounts when an IRV recount has never before happened in Burlington? The votes from Wards 4 and 7 have been left uncounted; it is from these wards where Kurt received most support. Why weren't those crucial votes recounted?

LOCAL NEWS: IRV RE-COUNT BEGINS AND ENDS EARLY

Shay Totten/Seven Days reported about the Burlington Mayoral IRV Re-count which started on Monday evening. At just about Midnight, Haik Bedrosian informed us...

The count is on!

...And the count off. [Republican candidate Kurt}Wright calls off recount after only wards 1,2,3 and part of 6 are counted. Knodell left early. Russ Ellis stayed late.

We'll probably learn more about the Wright decision tomorrow, but I think it was the wrong decision. After all, Kurt had stated that he wanted to see how the IRV counting process worked. And a lot of us wanted to be assured it was legit. Now, we've lost our chance.

DEMAND A BURLINGTON MAYORAL IRV ELECTION RECOUNT!

Hey, I listened this morning to Mark Johnson's program and interview with Kurt Wright, too. And I'm for a recount, too. There are too many questions about how it's handled for IRV and I sure as fuck don't trust how it was done on election night in Burlington! Jonathan Leopold did a crap job explaining what was happening to those present after the polls closed. It was not at all enlightening. I could even see the confusion on the faces of the press in Contois Auditorium. During the day, I'd spent several hours outside one of the ward polling locations, and let me tell you, a lot of people were questioning the whole IRV system in Burlington. I'm for a recount and I phoned Kurt Wright to urge him to demand one. I'm not alone in wanting one. Do a recount to challenge the "system" and prove that the votes were counted correctly and to assure doubters .