Does IRV unfairly favor third parties?
No. IRV simply helps level the playing field so that voters will tend to vote for the candidate they genuinely prefer without worrying about “spoiler” risks. Some major party advocates have mistakenly suggested that IRV unfairly benefits minor parties – implying that some quirk of the vote tally procedure may allow a third party candidate to win merely with second choices, despite a narrow base of support. This is incorrect. As with any runoff election, under IRV a candidate must have both substantial core support and be more popular than the other finalist candidate. Unlike some other alternative voting methods (such a Borda, range, and approval voting), under IRV it is impossible for a candidate to win on the strength of second choices alone, without substantial first preference support.
