THE BROWN MACHINE has always opposed instant-runoff voting, the progressive reform that allows voters to rank their choice of candidates, thus eliminating expensive low-turnout runoff elections. There's been a quiet machine-backed campaign to block implementation of the system for this fall's mayoral election, in which IRV would almost certainly hurt front-runner Gavin Newsom and help both of the leading progressive candidates, Tom Ammiano and Angela Alioto.

But now, as Steve Jones reports on page 12, the attack on IRV has come out into the open, with a legal filing that claims IRV disenfranchises minority voters.

The filing, with Secretary of State Kevin Shelly, is a stinking red herring, and Shelly should reject it and put the full weight of his office behind helping San Francisco promote and implement the system.

Opponents of IRV argue that non-English-speaking voters might be confused by the system, which is not only silly but also patronizing: voting materials are printed in many languages, and the instructions aren't any more complicated in Chinese or Spanish. They also argue that hand counting of ballots could be problematic – but supporters of IRV don't want hand-counting, either. They just recognize that, if the computer software isn't ready by November, there may be no other choice.