The Third Party Dilemma -and - Instant Runoff Voting

​The two major parties can most simply be described as the Government Jobs Party and the Management Party.  The parties view themselves as the Protector of Victims Party and the Common Sense Party.  Both parties resist change until something collapses and then the Management Party tries to fix the problem while the Government Jobs Party tries to raise taxes and create as many government jobs as possible.  The result is usually some sort of fix, and bigger government.  Both parties regard abortion as the most important defining issue.
 
Third Parties, no matter how appealing their ideas, rarely get out of single digits.  Voters  fear that voting for them will split the vote and elect someone the voter strongly opposes.  That actually happened in recent history.
 
After Bill Clinton had survived his last bimbo eruption and been nominated, the media suddenly discovered Ross Perot.  Perot got the sort of coverage that even his money couldn’t buy.  A large number of voters thought there might finally be an opportunity to bring real change to Washington. 
 
The liberal media knew that was very unlikely, but saw an opportunity to elect a Democrat by dividing the opposing vote.  The result was Bill Clinton elected with 43% of the vote vs 56.4% for Bush and Perot.
 
The Australians experienced an even more unpopular Labor Party candidate being elected with a plurality of 34.4% in 1918.  They responded with the Commonwealth Electoral Act of 1918, which implemented Instant Runoff Voting.  Voters rank the candidates.  Second choice votes for voters whose candidate got the lowest first choice votes are then used, with the process continuing until a candidate receives a majority. 

There is a simpler version of instant runoff voting.  A second section is placed on the ballot for all races with more than two candidates.  Voters can then make a runoff selection at the same time they cast their first choice vote.  If their first choice is not in the runoff their second choice vote is used.  

Most voters only have a first and second choice, since the remaining candidates are not acceptable to them.  However, if Libertarians have their way, the choice of None Of The Above will be on all ballots.  If None Of The Above wins, the election must be held again with different candidates.
 
Ranked Choice is hard to implement with many of the existing systems used in Texas, but just having a second block for races with more than two candidates is no problem.  It would allow the true choice of the voters to be expressed.  

Runoff elections are low turnout events, and are expensive for the candidates and the taxpayers.  Local party organizations are often hostile to newcomers, keeping good new blood from getting into the system.  Instant Runoff Voting at all levels from primaries through presidential elections would change this in a totally positive way.  People should be able to vote for their second choice when they vote for their first.  Texas could lead the way.  It is time for this reform to be implemented.
 
If elected I will push for both Instant Runoff Voting and for putting None Of The Above as a choice on all Texas ballots.