Many registrars and election officials are understandably cool about implementing a new voting system, such as instant runoff voting, that most voters have never heard of and that the voting equipment can t easily handle. They will typically raise lots of objections to voting system reforms, so we need to be prepared to address them. The rest of this piece deals with objections that officials will raise to instant runoff voting, but the material applies just as well to objections to choice voting.
Election officials can be formidable opponents of voting system reform.
It pays to approach them early and openly and in as constructive manner as possible. Then, when the jurisdiction acquire new equipment, it will have an incentive to make the equipment compatible with transferable ballots, and when you push to implement the new voting system, you can argue the system on its merits rather than getting stuck on equipment and cost. Here are some questions and concerns that elections officials are likely to raise Q. Voters won t be able to handle the new system. They make many mistakes with the current system. All the voter has to do is rank one or more candidates in order of choice.