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What blocks us from attempting a similar approach state-wide? Seattle's top-two approach has already made a big difference in making the general election releva

by ISL 5y ago

What blocks us from attempting a similar approach state-wide? Seattle's top-two approach has already made a big difference in making the general election relevant and competitive. Where I see trouble these days is with Federal elections. Being able to vote for anyone but X or Z would be a wonderful way to send a signal as a voter. I suspect that both the east and west sides of the state would feel similarly (East: "Anyone but X!", West: "Anyone but Y!". Result: M gets elected, who is thankfully neither X nor Y.).

godelski 5y ago
> What blocks us from attempting a similar approach state-wide? Same thing that makes it difficult by attempting to do it country wide. That it is larger and more difficult. It would be nice if we could just wave a hand and change everything at once, but that also wouldn't be very democratic. What is also nice is that we can experiment, refine, and test at smaller levels before we advance to larger elections.
troydavis 5y ago
Sorry for the late response. I wasn't on HN yesterday. Someone else answered this well, but: money. A Seattle initiative is roughly 10%-20% as expensive as a statewide one, and it's still an incredible challenge to raise enough to do this. Ask me where I spend my time. Qualifying for the ballot in Seattle requires about 26,200 valid signatures (10% of votes cast in the last Mayoral election). They must be collected during a 180-day period that, due to deadlines to make the November ballot, must is basically January-June. Since January-March is wet and cold, people aren't outside as much and many initiatives just do April-June. Collecting 26,000 signatures in 90-180 days is all but impossible with volunteers, which means the core challenge for an initiative is fundraising to pay signature-gathering costs. You can divide 26,000 by any number of valid signatures collected per hour - 3, 6, 12, whatever - and it's still a lot of time and thus really expensive. So, that's for the Seattle ballot. Getting on the WA state ballot requires 324,516 (!). Yes, 12x more. And that cost scales roughly linearly; the few efficiencies of scale are offset by new inefficiencies like travel. There's some efficiencies with overhead, but that's a small % of the cost. So, that's why. It takes 5-10x more money. Of course, voters would need to support it statewide too. In Seattle, this will pass; our job is to get it on the ballot. A statewide campaign may also need to do at least an education/awareness campaign (roughly the last paragraph of your comment) and potentially even try to change public opinion. These can cost even more than collecting signatures. (If you're reading this and thinking "Wow, Troy knows this stuff - and it's interesting and there's a plan to do this!" - it is and there is! I'd love your help as a volunteer and/or your donations.)

by ISL 5y ago

godelski 5y ago

> What blocks us from attempting a similar approach state-wide? Same thing that makes it difficult by attempting to do it country wide. That it is larger and more difficult. It would be nice if we could just wave a hand and change everything at once, but that also wouldn't be very democratic. What is also nice is that we can experiment, refine, and test at smaller levels before we advance to larger elections.

troydavis 5y ago

Sorry for the late response. I wasn't on HN yesterday. Someone else answered this well, but: money. A Seattle initiative is roughly 10%-20% as expensive as a statewide one, and it's still an incredible challenge to raise enough to do this. Ask me where I spend my time. Qualifying for the ballot in Seattle requires about 26,200 valid signatures (10% of votes cast in the last Mayoral election). They must be collected during a 180-day period that, due to deadlines to make the November ballot, must is basically January-June. Since January-March is wet and cold, people aren't outside as much and many initiatives just do April-June. Collecting 26,000 signatures in 90-180 days is all but impossible with volunteers, which means the core challenge for an initiative is fundraising to pay signature-gathering costs. You can divide 26,000 by any number of valid signatures collected per hour - 3, 6, 12, whatever - and it's still a lot of time and thus really expensive. So, that's for the Seattle ballot. Getting on the WA state ballot requires 324,516 (!). Yes, 12x more. And that cost scales roughly linearly; the few efficiencies of scale are offset by new inefficiencies like travel. There's some efficiencies with overhead, but that's a small % of the cost. So, that's why. It takes 5-10x more money. Of course, voters would need to support it statewide too. In Seattle, this will pass; our job is to get it on the ballot. A statewide campaign may also need to do at least an education/awareness campaign (roughly the last paragraph of your comment) and potentially even try to change public opinion. These can cost even more than collecting signatures. (If you're reading this and thinking "Wow, Troy knows this stuff - and it's interesting and there's a plan to do this!" - it is and there is! I'd love your help as a volunteer and/or your donations.)