Look at Other Options, Too, LA!

The LATimes' blog is reporting that L.A. County is going to look into Instant Runoff Voting. Currently, they use a plurality election, with a top-two runoff election if no one gets a majority, but the added cost of a second election and the lower turnout for it, have them looking elsewhere.

Please, L.A. County, take a look at some other alternative election methods, like score voting. If money is the worry, it's a winner:

• No need to buy new voting machines (which might be necessary to do IRV)
• Fewer chances for tied and near-tied tallies to necessitate a recount (or lawsuit)
• Can still be counted in precincts (IRV requires potentally more-expensive centralized counting)

And that's ignoring the utilitarian benefits: score voting reduces two-party domination, which means better options for voters, which means better government.

EDIT: Oh, and if turnout is the worry, remember that IRV also suffers from potential no-show paradoxes!