Ranked voting

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(09-04-2022, 08:04 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: 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.

I understand all of that. But you keep referencing this election, which I already said doesn't pertain to my argument because the 4th candidate pulled out. The scenario that's worrying people up here didn't happen this time. It's new. People that were already skeptical of elections are confused and pissed. That's where the college sports points comparison was brought up in the discussions because most people already know or understand that system.