Comments on: Not Your Mother’s Math Course: Mathematics for the Liberal Arts

By: Rob Richie

Rob Richie — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:48:55 +0000

Be sure to factcheck Joyce McCloy’s claims. She’s rather famous for misunderstanding URL’s. For example, Georgetown is using instant runoff voting, and Georgetown and the University of Virginia are among nearly 60 colleges and universities now using it. The Utah Republican Party hasn’t done anything new on its IRV policy in many years, and many local Republican parties in the state keep using it — indeed, two state senators there in the past year took their seats after the party used IRV to fill vacancies.

Overall, the reality is that more places are moving to instant runoff voting than opposing it. Only two jurisdictions (Burlington, Vermont and Pierce County, Washington) have repealed it — both in efforts led by losing candidates who were able to mobilize resentment against the new system after their lead in the first round was overturned by IRV. Both repeal efforts were actively opposed by the local League of Women Voters — and former governor Howard Dean helped lead opposition in Burlington. See http://www.fairvote.org/irv for additional background – thanks.

By: Reva Kasman

Reva Kasman — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:47:40 +0000

Thanks for the timely update, Joyce. This is definitely a curriculum topic that needs frequent verification.

By: Joyce McCloy

Joyce McCloy — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:01:14 +0000

Burlington Vermont voters chose to repeal instant runoff voting after using the system in two elections.

See Burlington rejects instant runoff voting March 3, 2010
…Ewing, a longtime Democratic leader in the city, called the measure a principled effort to repeal an overly complicated system, “a system which, on paper, persuaded people to give it a try but in reality resulted in a very confusing and poor system.”

In the past 12 months, these jurisdictions have abandoned instant runoff voting:

Aspen Colorado, Cary North Carolina, Pierce County Washington, Burlington Vermont, the Utah Republican Party and even Georgetown University (for student body elections). San Francisco may be next as people get fed up and even now a lawsuit has been filed.

Ironically, IRV in real life seems to confuse even the brightest of the bright. See

March 3, 2010 Marginal mayhem- http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2010/03/03/marginal-mayhem/

University of Virginia students were confused by the results of recent instant runoff voting election for student body. Strangely enough, the candidate with the most 1st and 2nd choice votes lost. Even the winner of the UVA’s IRV election didn’t understand the results