We need a Constitutional amendment to ban plurality voting

[Swordsmyth]

Thoughts?

 

[osan]

Thoughts?

What do you mean by "plurality voting"?

 

[Swordsmyth]

What do you mean by "plurality voting"?

In an election with more than 2 candidates a candidate who receives a mere plurality of votes can win, this is a potent barrier to 3rd parties since they can be accused of "spoiling" the election for the major party that is closest to them philosophically.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

It was a failure from the beginning to not specify that elected officials must have a majority (50%+1). Have a run-off when there is no winner.

 

[Swordsmyth]

It was a failure from the beginning to not specify that elected officials must have a majority (50%+1). Have a run-off when there is no winner.

Or a deliberate sabotage.

 

[RJ Liberty]

I'd totally support this.

 

[Bryan]

IRV is a good solution...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting

 

[timosman]

Or a deliberate sabotage.

That's how the system is supposed to work.

 

[Swordsmyth]

IRV is a good solution...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting

Next time you talk to Rand maybe you could suggest that he propose an amendment.

 

[timosman]

This will actually be good for diversity. Who would oppose that?

 

[osan]

In an election with more than 2 candidates a candidate who receives a mere plurality of votes can win, this is a potent barrier to 3rd parties since they can be accused of "spoiling" the election for the major party that is closest to them philosophically.

Ah, OK... that sense. Got it.

 

[osan]

It was a failure from the beginning to not specify that elected officials must have a majority (50%+1). Have a run-off when there is no winner.

There are many failures in the Constitution, as well as the rules and procedures that devolved from the general specifications in that document.

 

[timosman]

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1058827516427808768

 

[Danke]

We need, then people would vote for third parties and not "waste" their vote.

Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a voting method used in single-seat elections with more than two candidates. Instead of voting only for a single candidate, voters in IRV elections can rank the candidates in order of preference. Ballots are initially counted for each elector's top choice, losing candidates are eliminated, and ballots for losing candidates are redistributed until one candidate is the top remaining choice of a majority of the voters. When the field is reduced to two, it has become an "instant runoff" that allows a comparison of the top two candidates head-to-head.

 

[Swordsmyth]

Thoughts to ponder:

Anyone with brains should have known that line of thinking is bull, and in the end this system will only increase Leftist control. Ranked voting helps the statist with the highest name recognition/fundraising ability.

How so?

People only vote for candidates they know. Normally a third party liberty candidate could potentially win with 34%. In ranked choice voting they need 50% + 1. It should be pretty obvious.

But without ranked choice voting they never get more than 10% or so because most people view them as a "wasted vote" that makes it more likely for the party they hate the most to win.

With ranked choice voting you can vote 3rd party secure in the knowledge that your vote will go to the "lesser of two evils" if your preferred candidate isn't in the top 2.

So? Unless you really believe 51% of voters secretly want Ron Paul etc, despite 100 years of actual voter history it doesn't matter. You are increasing the threshold for liberty candidates to win. That's plain stupid.


In practice this means that Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn won't even need to pretend to be conservative at all, since they are guaranteed to have your vote when the last ballot is counted.

One thought though:

If Graham and Cornyn become overly confident of getting people's votes due to ranked choice voting won't that make them expose themselves sufficiently to get more people to vote 3rd party?

 

[osan]

Or a deliberate sabotage.

 

[Aratus]

In 1860 there were four POTUS candidates....