Press Statement
February 25, 2025
Irmo Town Council First in the State to Tell Legislature to Give Municipalities Another Election Method Option
Below is the statement of Frank Knapp Jr., president and CEO of the SC Small Business Chamber of Commerce, regarding the Irmo Town Council voting in support of House Bill 3589 regarding municipal elections. The Council, in a 4-1 vote Tuesday evening, becomes the first municipality in South Carolina to formerly ask the State legislature for the option of using Instant Runoff Voting for local elections.
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The Irmo Town Council’s vote for a resolution asking the State legislature to give towns and municipalities the option to use Instant Runoff Voting is a significant advancement in important election reform and putting voters first. Voters want elected leaders who win with a majority of the vote. Voters want more candidates having positive debates about policies and they even want more voter participation so that winning candidates truly represent the interest of the public. And they want all of this with no increased cost for holding elections. Instant Runoff Voting achieves all of this. The Irmo Town Council is now the leader in asking the Legislature for the option of using Instant Runoff Voting.
What makes Irmo Town Council’s vote even more significant is that the town is one of 118 municipalities using plurality voting, which avoids the cost of runoffs often needed to achieve a majority-vote winner. This is a big selling point of Instant Runoff Voting which achieves a majority-vote winner without runoffs. I expect that Irmo and many other municipalities in the state would seriously consider switching from plurality voting to majority-vote winner elections if the legislature gives them the opportunity to use Instant Runoff Voting.