But there are some hiccups.
âThereâs a lot of pieces involved,â said county elections chief Gretchen Reinemeyer, who aims to convene a summit of involved parties â county staff, Virginia Department of Elections, equipment vendors â early in the new year to âhash out all the details.â
At the request of Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington), the General Assembly earlier this year voted to allow Arlington to serve as an instant-runoff guinea pig before other localities have the option to implement it a year from now.
The instant-runoff process already is in use when the Arlington County Democratic Committee selects its nominees for local office through a caucus, though not in state-run primaries. When filling out ballots, voters are allowed (but not required) to rank candidates in order of preference; should no candidate receive 50 percent of the vote on the first ballot, the lowest scoring candidate is eliminated, and his/her votes are reallocated based