Ranked-Choice Voting in SF - Is It Possible on a National Level?
Dig this: Ranked Choice Voting in San Francisco - (flash)
If you're too lazy to click, basically what it means is thus: You vote for a first and a second choice. If the first choice is eliminated, then your vote goes for the second choice. Think of the impact this would have if we had this built into the national voting system. Nader would probably receive a significant amount of votes that he otherwise would not receive, simply because people are 'afraid to throw their vote away' and vote Democratic instead. The changes would be significant, and we likely would see more people on our voting ballots each year.
But it doesn't stand a chance in hell, because the only people that would probably go for it would be the naderites and the libertarians. I'm sure the Democrats don't want their votes going to Nader if their candidate loses, as some of the same companies funding their party also fund the republican party. Conflicts of interest would create even more shady situations, and ultimately we would be back to the same issue we are in. Conspiracies, fraud, and lies.
Still, it's an idea worth fighting for. If it becomes an issue, sign me up.
posted by novachild @ Sunday, September 05, 2004,
1 Comments:
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At 4:46 PM,
said...
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It is an issue, and please do sign up! The San Francisco phenomenon was the result of the hard work of a lot of grassroots activists, who have also had success in other SF Bay Area communities, but SF is leading the way with actual implementation. The Utah Republican party is using it to select its nominees. Cambridge, MA has been using a multi-winner ranked-choice method for decades, as have Australia and Ireland. Consider joining the
instantrunoff Yahoo group or check out the
Center for Voting and Democracy. In California, check out
Californians for Electoral Reform. You can also try a full-fledged
web poll simulating San Francisco's ranked-choice elections. --Dave Robinson
