Vermont, once again

Boy Vermontnt's on a roll when it comes to beating the powers that be. I'm going to have go through the Free State Projects website for stuff on New Hampshire so we can have equal time. This blurb is from www.politics1.com. The big part of this newstory is the use of instant run-off voting.

-----Sean Scallon


Third party politics are alive and well in the Green Mountain State. In a surprising upset, State Representative Bob Kiss (Progressive) was elected Mayor of Burlington on Tuesday. Kiss was largely a newcomer to city-level politics. Wealthy State Senator Hinda Miller (D) was heavily favored to win, but lost for the open seat. It was also the first time the city used Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) -- and was the first time any US city used IRV in over 30 years to elect a mayor. When the "first choice" votes were counted, Kiss captured 39%, Miller had 31%, City Councilor Kevin Curley (R) had 26%, and two independents split the remaining votes. As no candidate yet had a majority, the IRV system kicked-in. The last-place candidate in each round was eliminated and his/her "second choice" and "third choice" votes were then added to the running tally of remaining candidates. Kiss steadily moved up until he crossed the majority threshold to win the race. Retiring Mayor Peter Clavelle -- a one-time protégé of Bernie Sanders -- was initially elected as a Progressive but switched to the Dems a few years ago.