The Bangor Daily News has this op-ed by former State Senator Dick Woodbury, advocating support for the initiative for ranked-choice voting that will be on the ballot in November 2016. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
It would be so much simpler to switch to Top 2, and then you get the benefit of a focused debate.
P.R. and nonpartisan App.V – pending Condorcet head to head math.
General elections are to permit all voters to participate and all points of view to be heard. A debate with just the two strongest candidates inevitably prevents most of the interesting subjects from being raised. John Stuart Mill would understand.
We cannot survive as a democracy if our elections are so restricted that outsiders, dissidents, non-conformists, free-thinkers, people with imagination, cannot be heard. The typical Democratic and Republican mainstream politician typically won’t be sincere and will just say things that will enhance his or her changes of winning. The great value of minor party candidates is that they typically don’t expect to be elected, so they can tell the truth as they see it.
General elections are to permit an entire or large share of an elective body to be chosen, as contrasted with a special election. When the election is conducted in stages, the first stage is referred to as a primary election.
John Stuart Mill supported proportional representation, so that minority viewpoints could be represented in the legislative body. I doubt that he would be impressed with IRV.
Everyone in Burlington, Vermont agreed that Bob Kiss was a nice guy, and so was ranked high. But when there was a tough issue, he wasn’t up to dealing with it. Voters in Burlington realized their mistake and got rid of it.
Bernie Sanders was elected under a plurality system, and would quite likely have been elected under Top 2. Are you suggesting that he is not an outsider, dissident, non-conformist, free-thinker, or unimaginative?
Persons who have worked with both Diane Feinstein and Quentin Kopp say that she found her voice in the 1979 runoff for mayor. Incidentally, turnout for the December runoff was up from the November “general election”.
When Minneapolis had Top 2 elections, a Green candidate was elected to the city council, despite his opponent receiving a majority in the primary.
San Francisco elected a supervisor who ran on a campaign emphasizing a vote for one of the 3 Asian candidates. Only after he was elected was it discovered that he did not live in the city.
IRV is susceptible to Donkey Voting where voters rank the candidates in ballot order. See the cartoon that appeared with the Op-Ed you linked to.