For Cary Voters

This year, Cary will be the first town in North Carolina to use instant runoff voting. The Flash video above explains how instant runoff voting works.

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How is voting different under instant runoff voting?

Under instant runoff voting, Cary voters will rank the candidates for each Town Council seat in their order of preference, up to three candidates.

You don't have to rank three. You could rank just two, or rank only your top choice.

NOTE: Your second- and third-place rankings are just backups and will never hurt your first-choice candidate. Your second and third choices are examined only if your first-choice candidate loses the election.

How do instant runoff elections work?

At the end of Election Day, all of the first-choice rankings are counted. If a candidate receives a majority of the first-choice rankings, then the election is over and we have a winner -- with no need of a runoff.

However, if no candidate receives a majority of first-choice rankings, then we enter the instant runoff.

At this point, only the top two voter-getters remain for the instant runoff. All of the other candidates are eliminated. Now, the ballots that had ranked one of the eliminated candidates as their first choice are re-examined to see which of the remaining two candidates they ranked higher.

These second and/or third-choice rankings are then added to the total vote count of whichever remaining candidate they ranked higher to determine the winner.

Why use instant runoff voting?

With instant runoff voting, there is no need to hold a separate runoff election weeks after Election Day. Separate runoff elections often suffer from low voter turnout and cost tens of thousands of dollars for Cary.

Under instant runoff voting, the Town of Cary will save about $60,000 and voters won't have to worry about returning to the polls weeks later. Plus, candidates can better budget their campaign money, knowing that there will be only one election. Also, the tone of campaigns may be more civil, as candidates might avoid alienating supporters of opposing candidates who otherwise might rank them as their second choice.

Want to learn more about instant runoff voting?

Visit www.caryvotes123.com

or www.instantrunoff.com