…is a vote that isn’t cast.
With a Presidential voting rate that runs ~50% on a GOOD year, and abysmal senate/congressional rates (primaries are usually very low this year is an exception), why are we again disparaging third parties?
If someone who would have stayed home votes third party, isn’t that good?
If a third party “steals” a vote from a mainstream candidate, doesn’t that signal the main party isn’t addressing the concerns of a portion of the electorate?
I think it’s time to take two party lock OFF the table and start discussing Instant Run-off Voting (IRV), abolition of the electoral college, and standardized, simple, secure ballot procedures, and in general, clean elections
Tags: abolition of electoral college, ballot reform, clean elections, electoral college, instant run-off voting, IRV, secure ballots, third party
February 27, 2008 at 8:01 pm
IRV works well as long as there are two big parties and some small parties, but doesn’t work that well when one of the smaller parties grows big enough to become a serious contender.
I think, a Condorcet method (pairwise comparisons of candidates) would do better.
October 28, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Vote small parties. It’s the only way that makes sense in most states.