Prickly City by Scott Stantis for July 05, 2022

I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.

Will Rogers

Two major parties is the inevitable result of the Electoral College. So they may not have realized it, but they created a system that caused it.

Benefits of Ranked Choice Voting

Promotes Representative Outcomes and Majority Rule

Ranked choice voting provides voters with a backup to their vote. It mitigates problems with vote-splitting when more than two candidates run.

In elections with more than two candidates, a candidate can get elected to a top executive office over the strong opposition of most voters.

For example, in Maine, nine of the eleven gubernatorial elections between 1994 and 2014 were won with less than 50% of votes, including three with less than 40%. (This was a major factor in Maine voters adopting RCV in 2016 and 2018.)

With ranked choice voting (RCV) for single-winner offices, if no candidate has a majority in first-choices, the candidates in last place will be eliminated one-by-one.

If a voter’s first choice is eliminated, their vote instantly goes to their second or next backup choice. This avoids vote-splitting and uphold majority rule.

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Discourages Overly Negative Campaigning

In non-RCV elections, candidates benefit from mudslinging and attacking their opponent instead of sharing their positive vision with voters. This can lead to increasingly toxic and polarizing campaigns.

With RCV, candidates also compete for second choice votes from their opponents’ supporters which lessens the incentive to run a negative campaign.

In RCV contests, candidates do best when they reach out positively to as many voters as possible, including those supporting their opponents.

Voters in RCV cities report more positive campaigning and greater satisfaction with their elections. See our Research on RCV page for more on evidence of increased campaign civility and voter engagement.

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https:

//www.fairvote.org/rcv#rcvbenefits

They would be so upset if they looked at the world today. The slaves are free and not only free, but one of them was president. Women are allowed to own property and vote. Homosexuality is open and even celebrated. Let their puritanical hearts get one look at the internet or see the typical teenager and they would likely have a heart attack. I think they would be appalled at the world today. And I don’t care. They are a bunch of long dead men who thought owning other men was acceptable. We have moved past their “morals” and trying to rule based upon what they would think is just stupid.

GOP and Democrat Parties, today, are private companies and should be seen as such. They have their own internal interests that have very little to do with being friends of the Republic. That’s the way I see it. It is also why I donate directly to a candidate I approve of—not to their Party.

Last night, I attended a swearing in ceremony for new naturalized US citizens, and all of them were more proud to Americans for one day,, than some of “contributers” that frequent this comments section have ever felt in their lives. I will not name names, because its clear who’s who.

C’mon, guys! If you can’t boost America constantly (but only the Right bits, of course!) then you don’t deserve to live here. Apparently. For some reason I can’t fathom, and which makes no sense.

But if you whine and grouse all the time about other people here, frequently by name, then you’re a saint.

Ah, back to the familiar Colorforms poses. Frolic! Frolic like the wind! Frolic on and off model, do as ye wilt shall be the law!

The scripts seem to be from the same endless slush pile as ever.