c. Some election systems require the winning candidate to win with at least 50% plus 1 votes, and, if no candidate achieves this, require a run-off election between the top two candidates.

Since this seems difficult to implement in the 50 statewide elections that result in electoral college votes that determine the winner of a U.S. presidential election, some have proposed a system of instant run-off voting. In such a system, voters rank the candidates from most preferred to least preferred. In the first round of vote counting, each voter’s top ranked candidate is considered as having received a vote from that voter, and if one candidate gets 50%

plus 1 votes, he or she is declared the winner. If no candidate receives that many votes, the election authorities find which candidate received the lowest first round votes and then reassign that candidate’s votes to the candidates who were ranked second by these voters. If one candidate reaches 50% plus 1 votes, he or she wins; otherwise, the election authorities repeat the exercise, this time reassigning the votes of the candidate who initially received the second to last number of first place rankings. This continues until someone gets 50% plus 1 votes.

Had Florida used this system in 2000, do you think the presidential election outcome might have been different?