Ballot measure results in for Aspen and Pierce County

by Rob Richie // Published November 4, 2009

Pierce County voters have voted to repeal instant runoff voting (IRV) after using it last year and again this year. For many county voters, apparently, its value was unclear once the "top two" primary system was restored for state primary elections -- meaning that the county still needed to administer primary elections for other offices and handled the "spoiler" problem through reducing the field to two in the August primary.

In Aspen (CO), an advisory measure asking voters whether they wanted to keep IRV failed by six votes, 805 to 799. The city council will now debate a potential formal charter amendment to replace IRV. That potential amendment would need to pass for IRV to be replaced.