About 20 people spoke at a forum about the pilot program sponsored by the Wake County Board of Elections on Jan. 17 in Cary Town Council chambers.

Cary voters were the first in the state to test the approach, which was approved by the N.C. General Assembly in 2006. “We view instant-runoff voting as a way to increase participation,” said Cary resident Diane Haskell, president of the League of Women Voters of Wake County.

“Cary was a pacesetter.”

Others were not so sure.

Knightdale resident Janice Sears praised the board for its “state-of-the-art” approach to its work but also had reservations about the accuracy and openness of the count.

“And instant-runoff voting was to blame,” Sears said. “If the best board of elections in North Carolina had this much trouble counting 3,000 votes, this is too dangerous to try statewide.”

Cary’s council agreed in May to be a guinea pig for the pilot program, but the approach affected only one race, in District B.

Don Frantz won a three-way race in October with Vickie Maxwell and incumbent Nels Roseland.

Instead of having the general election in October and a runoff, if necessary, in November, Cary was the first municipality in the state to allow voters to rank the candidates. Since none of the candidates received a majority of the votes, the top two candidates, Frantz and Maxwell, had their votes as second and third choices counted. Frantz eked out a 48-vote win.

Hendersonville also used the pilot program.

Several advocates pointed to increased voter participation and reduced costs for the community and candidates as benefits from the program.

Cherie Poucher, director of the Wake County Board of Elections, said as the forum was getting under way that the savings generated just in the district race was about $28,000.

Others cited how easy the program was to understand as well as its potential to help voters throughout the state. “Big ups to Wake County,” said George Friday of Gastonia, who has worked for voter rights in rural North Carolina. But skeptics cited concerns about the program.

Chris Telesca of Raleigh said the process for counting the instant-runoff votes was complex and opaque.

Telesca pointed out that some of the District B votes were incorrectly sorted during a hand count at the Board of Elections and that a subsequent confirmation of the tally was not done publicly.

If counting the votes for one race was that difficult, Telesca said, he worried about trying instant runoffs countywide.

“I don’t want anyone experimenting with my vote,” Telesca said.

Maxwell recounted her experience with the approach as a candidate. She said having to explain a novel voting process was a distraction from discussing the issues with voters.

She also recalled “very uncomfortable” requests from both Frantz and Roseland to include in her campaign literature that she wanted voters to mark that candidate as second on their ballots.

Dennis Berwyn of Raleigh, who worked on Maxwell’s campaign, said she declined both requests.

Maxwell’s experience was a prime example of how instant-runoff voting can lead to “candidate collusion,” Berwyn said. “I don’t recall the conversation going like that,” Frantz said. “I don’t recall asking her to put anything on her campaign literature.”

Roseland said he and Maxwell did discuss the idea “in general terms.” However, “It was something … we’d both have to be comfortable with,” Roseland said.

Roseland also pointed out that at candidate forums he asked voters to mark all three spots on their ballots for him.