Olympic Committee Uses Form of IRV to Choose 2012 Host City
The International Olympic Committee chose London as the host city for the 2012 Games of the XXX Olympiad after four rounds of voting using a method similar to IRV. London won a majority in the highly contested, high publicity contest with 54 votes. The four-round runoff system was key to the London win, as it did not receive a majority of votes on the first counting. In later rounds, the city picked up a number of second and third choices from the eliminated cities of New York, Moscow, and Madrid.
The International Olympic Committee might consider joining the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the American Political Science Association, and other organizations in using IRV to make democratic decisions. With IRV, voters rank all of their preferences on a single ballot, and auxiliary choices are used to simulate runoffs.