Chances are, you didn’t vote in this election. In fact, four out of the five people sitting in front of you didn’t vote either. And for most A.S. executive offices, official election data show that approximately 12 of the 13 people on your right didn’t vote for the person that will occupy each respective office.

Several years ago, the A.S. Council approved recommendations to adopt changes to its voting system, instituting a method called instant runoff voting. Under IRV, no candidate can win without a majority of support from the voters. Instead, voters rate their preferences among candidates and, in cases where no candidate achieves a majority on the first ballot, the votes from the lowest scoring candidates roll over to the voters’ next preferences.

In effect, IRV encouragesmore candidates to run foreach office and also assures that each winner is actually among the top choices of the majority of voters, not simply the plurality. Last year, the council appropriated the money to implement the system, but the money was never spent and was instead used by this year’s senators on other projects.

If A.S. President-elect Christopher Sweeten is truly interested in increasing the responsiveness and representative nature of the council, the answer is the institution of IRV, not complicated constitutional referenda like the one on last week’s ballot. And with an expected 2.5- percent student population growth, the system could be paid for without sacrificing current programs.

Like its predecessors promised to do in the previous three years, the new council must utilize IRV.