In light of Franken's announcement, it will be 2009 before we know who won the 2008 senate race, leaving many people wondering if there may have been a better way.News 12's Jennifer Hudspeth has more information about a voting method that may prevent this from happening in the future.The term instant runoff voting is becoming popular among many Minnesotans ready to see closure in the everlasting race between Al Franken and Norm Coleman.Roy Srp says, "I don't think we've even got a clue as to how much money total is going to be spent on this recount.I think it's going to be obscene the dollar's that are going to be spent on this."The idea of instant run off voting is to change the voting process so that voters can rank the candidates according to their preference, first choice, second choice etc.If a candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes, the candidate wins.If not, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and the votes cast for this candidate are redistributed according to the second choice on each of the voting ballots.Many people think it is time for a change in the voting process and that change like this could potentially have a positive outcome.Roy says, "This is mostly spearheaded in this area by the Independence Party, the Green Party, the League of Women Voters, and groups like that who are thinking this would save us a lot of time, trouble, money, and be very beneficial for the voters of the state of Minnesota."Although many people are in favor of instant runoff voting, there are just as many who are skeptical.Patty O'Connor says, "As we would talk about how it would work, it got more confusing and more confusing and more confusing for those of us who have to count it."Blue Earth County Auditor Patty O'Connor thinks many people could use this type of voting to cheat the system.Patty says, "What if you don't have a first choice, what if you don't have a second choice and what about the gaming of the system, and people will game it."Other concerns are that there is no certified equipment to count the runoff voting ballots so it would all have to be counted by hand, and how would the counting go if there were ten people running for a position...Still, the big question is would instant runoff voting have saved us from being in the predicament we're in with the current senate race.Patty thinks the recount would have been inevitable.Patty says, "If it was first, second, third choice we'd still be in this race with Coleman and Franken. There's no doubt in my mind."She also has no doubt that the recount is almost over.Patty says, "It's been a lot of work for the counties, a lot of work for the city's who have been doing this in the metro area, but we're almost done.We'll have a new senator soon."No matter what the outcome, it's a race we won't forget soon.Jennifer Hudspeth News 12.