To the Editor:



On Nov. 7, Syracuse could elect its next mayor with as little as 20.001 percent of the vote. (In the event that Joe Nicoletti drops out, that number only increases to 25.001 percent.)



Indeed, Syracuse could elect a mayor whom the overwhelming majority voted against.



It's too bad that the Democrats, who have ruled Syracuse for decades, have not listened to Green Party mayoral candidate Howie Hawkins. He has long proposed a solution to this problem -- ranked-choice, instant-runoff voting, where voters rank their choices in order of preference. If no candidate wins a majority of votes in the first count, the last-place candidate is eliminated and his or her votes are transferred to the second choice of each of his or her voters. That process continues until someone has a majority.



Instant-runoff voting ensures that the candidate most preferred by the voters is the winner. It also ends the so-called "spoiler problem" for voters, who often vote for a "lesser evil" rather than their most preferred candidate, because they are afraid of helping their least preferred candidate.

Instant-runoff voting is a growing reform across the United States; 19 cities now have it, including Memphis, Minneapolis, St. Paul, San Francisco and Oakland.



This system should also be used for proportional representation in multi-seat legislative bodies like the Common Council.



This reform would create a multi-party system, in which Greens, Republicans and perhaps other parties would get their fair share of representation instead of being almost completely shut out by the plurality system, which magnifies the Democratic majority's representation far beyond its proportionate share of the vote. The Greens, for instance, have had no representation in city government despite the fact that Howie Hawkins has received between 35 percent and 48 percent of the vote in his last four local races, the most recent of which was city-wide.



It's time for the Common Council to reform our local elections. Let's adopt instant-runoff voting for single-seat executive offices so the winner is the most preferred candidate. Let's adopt proportional representation for the multi-seat Common Council and School Board so that ethnic and political minorities get their fair share of representation.

Eric Graf

Syracuse



The writer is Green Party candidate for Second District Councilor.



