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I think that people who favor ranked-choice voting have really underestimated how confusing it will be to a lot of people. It may be "better", but like a lot o

I think that people who favor ranked-choice voting have really underestimated how confusing it will be to a lot of people. It may be "better", but like a lot of things that are "better" it also just feels strange. It feels like your vote, if for the leading candidate, only gets counted once, while voters for the losing candidates get more votes. And yes, I understand that this is not the case, but adding additional confusion to our system when trust in it is at an all time low doesn't seem like a smart play. Gone will be the days when you can present a simple set of numbers to the general populace. It's also been very strange to have a lot of out of state money dumped into my city of ~50k to get it added for our local city elections. I've gotten more ads and mailings about it than for our US Senate election, probably by a factor of 5x. It's clear one political party has made the determination that it will be beneficial to their side.

JCharante 6y ago
This feels like a problem that can be solved by being taught about it though, and that's exactly what Maine has been doing! For many years now a volunteer organization has been going to high schools and hosting classroom sized workshops to educate the students on ranked choice voting. When the news brings it up and their parents eventually comment on it, the students are there to clarify any confusing that their parents may have. Ranked choice voting is also great for write-in candidates. You get the fun of voting for your dog without the guilt of throwing away a vote. Although I'm not sure if write-in votes require additional processing compared to people who just vote by filling in the bubbles.
raldi 6y ago
We’ve been using it in my city for ages, and the “everybody will be confused” predictions never really manifested, especially after the first couple years of it. Voters learn, and campaigns learn how to communicate clear instructions.
lotsofpulp 6y ago
If you don’t want to participate in the ranked choice system, or find it too confusing, just put one vote in like you normally would. For everyone else, this is a chance to break free from the two party stranglehold.
jacques_chester 6y ago
> I think that people who favor ranked-choice voting have really underestimated how confusing it will be to a lot of people. Tens of millions of Australians have voted this way for over a century now. The statistical likelihood that the population in Australia is somehow less prone to confusion is miniscule.
smichel17 6y ago
Score voting is not hard to understand. - Give each candidate a score (0-5 points) - Add up everyone's points - The candidate who received the most points total, wins It also happens to be a much larger improvement to the status quo than ranked choice (which is still an improvement).

JCharante 6y ago

This feels like a problem that can be solved by being taught about it though, and that's exactly what Maine has been doing! For many years now a volunteer organization has been going to high schools and hosting classroom sized workshops to educate the students on ranked choice voting. When the news brings it up and their parents eventually comment on it, the students are there to clarify any confusing that their parents may have. Ranked choice voting is also great for write-in candidates. You get the fun of voting for your dog without the guilt of throwing away a vote. Although I'm not sure if write-in votes require additional processing compared to people who just vote by filling in the bubbles.

raldi 6y ago

We’ve been using it in my city for ages, and the “everybody will be confused” predictions never really manifested, especially after the first couple years of it. Voters learn, and campaigns learn how to communicate clear instructions.

lotsofpulp 6y ago

If you don’t want to participate in the ranked choice system, or find it too confusing, just put one vote in like you normally would. For everyone else, this is a chance to break free from the two party stranglehold.

jacques_chester 6y ago

> I think that people who favor ranked-choice voting have really underestimated how confusing it will be to a lot of people. Tens of millions of Australians have voted this way for over a century now. The statistical likelihood that the population in Australia is somehow less prone to confusion is miniscule.

smichel17 6y ago

Score voting is not hard to understand. - Give each candidate a score (0-5 points) - Add up everyone's points - The candidate who received the most points total, wins It also happens to be a much larger improvement to the status quo than ranked choice (which is still an improvement).