Ranked voting

[Belsnickel]

(09-04-2022, 05:59 PM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: The fringe wind up getting two choices in the matter or a mulligan . . . all of the voters that were more mainstream and think along with the majority will wind up only getting one. That's our issue. This may not be the topic of almost every bar in your state, but it is in mine.

I'm a political scientist, trust me when I say RCV is a topic at my social hours as well.

The idea behind RCV is that it allows independents and third-party candidates to have a fighting chance. In a first-past-the-post, plurality wins election, voting for a third-party or independent is a spoiler vote. Those candidates typically have no chance to win and voting for them is just taking a vote away from another candidate. RCV allows you to vote with the candidate that best represents you.

Say that instead of the way things turned out, Peltola had 34% and Palin had 35%. In FPTP voting, Palin wins. That's it. End of story. But in RCV if more of Begich's voters prefer Peltola because Palin is batshit looney, Peltola wins the election because their second choice goes to Peltola. It's not the system giving the fringe anything. The system allows everyone to make these choices and vote as they choose. To vote for the candidates they actually want to see in office. If you have a terrible candidate with a sizeable support base, like Palin, Trump, etc., then RCV can actually prevent them from winning.