Instant runoff voting bill goes to Student Congress

Student Body President-elect Andrew Powell did not win the general election — nor did current Student Body President Christy Lambden win his in 2013.

But after not receiving a majority of the student vote, they both moved on to their respective runoff elections where they were voted into office.

Future candidates might not follow the same route to office if Student Congress is successful in the implementation of instant runoff voting.

Representative Zach Ferguson recently reintroduced a bill to Student Congress to reform the student body president election process by eliminating the current runoff format.

The new voting system would require students to rank the candidates in order of their preference, but voters would be allowed to rank only one candidate if they wished.

In instant runoff voting, if no candidate receives a majority of first-rank votes, the lowest-ranked candidate would be eliminated. Then, for voters who had listed the eliminated candidate as their first-choice, their second-choice would instead get their vote.

This process would continue until one candidate receives a majority of the vote.

“The students saw a very long runoff season,” Ferguson said. “I know the candidates get exhausted, the candidates get fatigued.”

The bill passed through Rules and judiciary committee Tuesday, and will go to full Congress next week.

The bill to implement instant runoff voting was previously vetoed in 2010 by then-Student Body President Jasmin Jones. Current Student Body President Christy Lambden vetoed the bill in August.

“Christy has had mixed feelings about it in the past,” said Student Congress Speaker Pro Tempore John Guzek, who is also a columnist for The Daily Tar Heel.

“There was resistance in the past. He wasn’t sure if Student Life was ready for such a system in terms of the mechanics of it.”

Ferguson said student body presidents are traditionally against this measure because many of them are voted into office in the runoff.

“Every student body president gets selected through runoff, so they feel that attachment,” said Ferguson.

Ferguson said the software used for elections is set up for the instant runoff voting format. He said that unless the new system is cost-neutral, the bill will not be implemented.

Robert Windsor, director of the Board of Elections, expressed concern that students might find it confusing that they need to rank their vote choices for student body president but not other offices.

Guzak said Ferguson wants use the student body president election as a test for other future elections. He said if it’s unsuccessful, the election could return to its current format.

“(It’s) something other schools have been doing for a long time,” Guzak said. “It’s definitely feasible to do it with Student Life. The more voices we can have, the better, and the fairer, election we can have.”

university@dailytarheel.com