Rather than debating the 2009 Burlington mayor election, I have a simple suggestion about whether ranked-choice voting is right for Vermont. Just use it.
Educational nonprofit RCV123.org was created so anyone can use RCV themselves easily and for free for any unofficial decision, large or small. It only takes a few seconds to set up a ballot and email out a link.
Trying to figure out the next title for your book club? Where to go for the next big family reunion? The school's next class president? Best leader for a nonprofit board or neighborhood association treasurer? Ranked-choice voting excels at forming consensus at nearly any scale.
The Feb. 5 letter (Ranked-choice voting problems) applied complex math to try and show something that defies common sense. It said a candidate who began in third place by 900 of the 9,000 total votes cast, was somehow the most popular candidate in the 2009 Burlington mayor race.
On a practical level, it seems odd to say that, after voters collectively ranked a candidate third, after-the-fact calculations can show that candidate as the true favorite.
If anyone wants our elections to be a series of head-to-head runoffs almost like the NCAA basketball tournament, please make that suggestion and introduce a bill in the Legislature.
Vermonters can make up their own minds about ranked-choice voting in the most democratic way possible. Just use RCV123.org for their next real-life group decision and see for themselves if it's easy to use and helps achieve a consensus result or not.