Will Greens abandon IRV?

• Author: Fitz, Don
• Position: Election 2004: Green Analyses - Instant Runoff Voting

The Blob is coming. That amorphous ever-changing thing that swallows up whatever tries to live on its own is coming after Greens. But wait ... look ... is it really the Blob? Or is it the Democratic Party.

The Green warrior waves his weapon to slay the hideous slime-creature. On it is scratched "IRV." Is the Green dropping the weapon? The 2004 election says, "Yes."

The demand for Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) has been a key element in building the Green Party as an independent political force. If there is an actual or de facto abandonment of IRV, entry of Greens into the Democratic Party is only a matter of time. IRV means that voters get to rank order their preferences. In the 2000 election, people often explained that with IRV, they could rank Ralph Nader first, Al Gore second and whoever third. If Nader was not one of the final contestants, their vote would transfer to their second choice, Gore.

Between 2000 and 2004 the Democratic Party let out a non-stop whine that the Greens had "spoiled" the election. One of the rarest answers that Greens gave to this attack was that if the Democrats would work to implement IRV, they would have nothing to fear in future elections. Of course, with a few exceptions, Democrats have no interest in implementing IRV. Many are well aware that if Ralph Nader were allowed in presidential debates and if there were IRV, Nader would win a huge number of votes, perhaps even more than the Democrat.

Democrats would rather lose races to Republicans than give the Green Party the chance to replace it. This is what Greens should have been saying. Instead, a large portion of Green leaders caved in to the Democrats and echoed the argument that their major goal should be preventing the election of Republicans.

In the middle to late 1990s, many Greens used to say that they hoped that they would spoil elections because this would be the only way to push Democrats into working for IRV. After 2000, this argument was noticeable by its absence. It was replaced by a Pollyannaish fantasy that if the Greens would be nice to Democrats then Democrats would support IRV. As if Democratic bosses wanted to do anything to the Green Party other than exterminate it.

The election of 2004 set the precedent: if polls predict a close race for President, the Greens should bow out. This logic means that if Greens predict that a state-wide race for Governor or Senator might be a toss-up, they should not run...