Forum Post: Our Antiquated Plurality Voting System- works for 2 Parties only
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 23, 2011, 8:39 p.m. EST by wilgilb
(1)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Instant Run-off Voting eliminates spoilers, wasted votes, wasteful run-offs, and guarantees majority (50%+) winners.
Rank your choices 1st, 2nd, 3rd.
If majority at count, she wins. If no majority, recount lowest candidate's ballots for voter's 2nd choices and redistribute to remaining candidates until majority winner emerges. Voila, Instant Run-off.
Non-partisan. Non-profit. Obama, McCain, Nader endorse it.
FairVote.org
Sounds very interesting. Would you be willing to deposit this info on a wiki? http://occupythiswiki.org/wiki/Main_Page seems like a good place to be gathering good ideas (no it's not mine). This is also something that needs to be discussed in the working groups for the National General Assembly: https://sites.google.com/site/the99percentdeclaration/ and here http://occupywallst.org/forum/update-on-the-99-declaration-and-the-national-gene/
Thanks very much : )
I agree. And thank you for reminding me of the term instant run-off voting; I remembered the concept but not the name. Instant run-off would free us from the two party stranglehold; it would be great.
Also, we need not to reform campaign finance but essentially end campaign finance. Instead, as the internet, cable TV, radio, and broadcast TV spaces are public goods given/rented by the people to various private interests, these media should be made available to essentially all political candidates with more than a handful of supporters. I suppose we could retain the option for candidates of printing as much written material as their campaigns can monetarily afford, so long as the mass media are not at all money related.
This is the kind of thinking we need. The rich and powerful love the current two party system - they have turned the whole thing into a hometown football rivalry, meanwhile they are laughing all the way to the bank. Keep it up!
Here's my 2 cents: I have no problem with people making lots and lots of money - as long as they don't subvert our democracy and disenfranchise the American voter in the process. The influence needs to go back to who the founding fathers intended - the people.
For the sake our our children and future generations of Americans, we need to take back our democracy from the rich and powerful who are using their vast sums of money to "speak" as if they represent millions of Americans. They are twisting our laws and manipulating our policies in their favor at the expense of the average American. The $50 or $100 a normal American may give to a political campaign becomes meaningless when corporations or other special interests are handing our millions to buy political access to the decision making process. Here's my 2 cents on what we need to do:
For decades now the corporations and special interests have had our "representatives" bought and paid for (both on the right and the left). Don't get distracted by the symptoms - we need to address the root cause. Concentrating our efforts on getting the money out of our politics is the best way we can create an environment in which further reforms can be realized. Until we end the current system of legalized bribery (campaign donations) and paid lobbying our politicians will continue to be the LAP DOGS of the corporations and special interests. What we need first and foremost is real, loop-hole free CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM!!!! If the corruption is not dealt with first, the chance of any other meaningful reforms becoming a reality is almost zero - the special interests will just use their money to buy votes and put forward bills that create loop-holes or otherwise twist the law in their favor. If we want our children to live in a country where there vote matters, we need to get the money out of our politics, otherwise they will increasingly become the 21st century version of the "landless peasant." Spread the word - End the LEGALIZED BRIBERY!!! CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM needs to be THE main goal of the protests!!!
Any other system fixes still require us to vote for candidates. If there are more than 2 candidates, the system is biased against 3rd parties. Instant Run-off Voting levels the field. We need it.