"I had every reason to believe this was going to be a close race," he said. "It meant that when I knocked on a door, if a person indicated they were going to vote for another candidate, I didn't just leave right away. I tried to persuade them I would be a good second choice."

Snipper won with 107 votes in the nonpartisan election. He defeated Eric Hensal (72 votes) and Alexandra Quéré Barrionuevo (23 votes). There was one write-in.

Richie said he's not disappointed there was no trial run.

Richie, who lives in Takoma Park and helped persuade the community to adopt the IRV system, said his organization surveyed voters coming out of the polls to see how they liked IRV. Forty-five voters said they thought it made the campaign more positive; only one said it did not.

That may stem from candidates' need to market themselves to voters whose minds are made up, he said. Those voters may be more inclined to pick a candidate as a second choice if they have a positive encounter on the campaign trail, he said.