1975 Mayoral Election
Wheeler first made a bid for the office of Ann Arbor mayor in April 1975. Running as a Democrat, he unseated the Republican incumbent mayor, James E. Stephenson. That election used the instant-runoff voting system, and it represented the first-ever use of IRV in a U.S. mayoral contest.
During the early and mid-1970s, the local, left-wing Human Rights Party (HRP) had gained a strong foothold in Ann Arbor municipal politics, electing several candidates to the city council. With the introduction of a strong third party in Ann Arbor, concerns grew among Democrats and HRP supporters that the city's progressive vote would be split, thus allowing Republicans to win offices on pluralities. Stephenson had won in just such a scenario in 1973, taking only 47% of the vote. To head off a repeat of this result, the HRP spearheaded a petition campaign to place the IRV system on the city ballot in spring 1974. Most Democratic and HRP voters supported the proposal, which passed with 52% approval.
During the April 1975 mayoral race, the only Ann Arbor contest using IRV, the Republican incumbent, Stephenson, received 49% of the first-choice ballots, leading Wheeler, who received 40%, and the HRP candidate Carol Ernst, who received 11%. However, since no candidate received a majority, IRV rules came into effect. Most HRP voters had ranked Wheeler as their second choice, and these votes moved to the Democrat's column, making Wheeler the winner by a slim margin of 121 votes. Ann Arbor voters repealed the system in an April 1976 special election.
Read more about this topic: Albert H. Wheeler
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