RANKED-CHOICE VOTING

2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #412

From time immemorial voters in our country have faced the concept of voting in the primary elections for the “lesser of two evils.” Why? Because our voting system allows candidates with the most votes to win the primary elections to move on to the finals, even though they did not receive a majority of the votes. In addition, many states also have closed primary elections that do not allow independent and unaffiliated voters to participate, which often ensures that only the most partisan voters have their voices heard. Of course, this frequently results in the most extreme candidates, with a small but loyal following, winning the primary elections and going on to the finals.

What is the remedy? In large part the remedy is Ranked-Choice Voting. And what is that? Independent and unaffiliated voters would be able to vote in the primary election of their choice, but in any election in which there were more than two candidates each voter would vote first for their favorite candidate. Then, if no candidate received a majority of votes in the first count, the candidate who received the fewest first-place votes would be eliminated, and there would be a second tabulation. (This could easily be done by today’s computers.) But, importantly, voters who had selected the candidate that had been eliminated would have voted for their second choice, and that is the vote that would be counted in the second tabulation. And then, in a similar fashion, there could be a third tabulation and on and on until one candidate finally received a majority of all of the votes. That would ensure that the eventual winner would have received the support of a majority of voters in the primary election. And this would mean that all of the candidates would be much more inclined to be involved in consensus-building instead of just catering to their base. In addition, they would also would be more inclined not to be involved in negative campaigns. And wouldn’t that be a big change for the better? Right now Alaska, Maine and New York City have approved Ranked-Choice Voting, joining the countries of Australia and New Zealand. For more information, please Google “Ranked-Choice Voting.”

Story for the week: Did you hear about the two friends who happened to be grandmothers who were talking with each other? The first one said that every year she gave each of her grandchildren checks of a noticeable amount of money on their birthdays. But she never received even a telephone call from them in appreciation, which made her sad. The second friend responded that she too gave her grandchildren some nice checks on their birthdays, but they always called her at least within a week and also came over and visited her. What was her approach? “I don’t sign the checks” was her reply.