4 ms·

We have rank choice voting in my city and it is amazing. I was effectively able to vote for my two favorite candidates who have very similar views with no fear

We have rank choice voting in my city and it is amazing. I was effectively able to vote for my two favorite candidates who have very similar views with no fear of splitting a vote. Interestingly though (but not surprisingly) there is a lot of anti rank choice media coverage of the process. When I tell people my city does that, some respond with “oh that sounds terrible! I heard the news that system is so complicated and hard to run! It probably took you weeks to find out who won!?” This disconnect between my great experience with the system and the general perception of the process much bigger than I expected. Now we just have to ask… who benefits from pushing a bad narrative about rank choice voting

lotsofpulp 3y ago
>Now we just have to ask… who benefits from pushing a bad narrative about rank choice voting Any party that already has high likelihoods of winning the election will be hurt by RCV.
- bunderbunder 3y ago
  Both major parties benefit from the status quo, regardless of which one's on top at any given moment or in any given district. I don't even know that it's about who ultimately wins the elections. It's probably even more directly about maximizing the amount of money that gets sent their way.
- freeopinion 3y ago
  This suggests a short-term vision. I think it misses the mark. Your opposition to RCV should increase with your distance from the center. RCV reduces the chances of fringe candidates being successful. Traditional U.S. systems reduce the chances of centrists. Most intelligent strategists prefer to lose 50% of elections than to lose 90% of elections.
- dragonwriter 3y ago
  > Any party that already has high likelihoods of winning the election will be hurt by RCV. No, it won't. RCV doesn’t hurt duopoly at all. It generally rewards the more centrist subfactions of whatever the two dominant factions would be without it, so if (in the USA) you views are best represented by a blend of the corporate capitalist neoliberal wing of the Democratic and the anti-Trump wing of the Republican Party, RCV is a boon for you. If your views are not well represented in the current system, they will be even less represented with winner-take-all elections under RCV. For that, you need multiwinner elections producing proportional-ish results, whether party list, STV (the multiwinner system of which RCV/IRV is the single-winner form), MMP, or some other system.

lotsofpulp 3y ago

>Now we just have to ask… who benefits from pushing a bad narrative about rank choice voting Any party that already has high likelihoods of winning the election will be hurt by RCV.

bunderbunder 3y ago
Both major parties benefit from the status quo, regardless of which one's on top at any given moment or in any given district. I don't even know that it's about who ultimately wins the elections. It's probably even more directly about maximizing the amount of money that gets sent their way.
freeopinion 3y ago
This suggests a short-term vision. I think it misses the mark. Your opposition to RCV should increase with your distance from the center. RCV reduces the chances of fringe candidates being successful. Traditional U.S. systems reduce the chances of centrists. Most intelligent strategists prefer to lose 50% of elections than to lose 90% of elections.
dragonwriter 3y ago
> Any party that already has high likelihoods of winning the election will be hurt by RCV. No, it won't. RCV doesn’t hurt duopoly at all. It generally rewards the more centrist subfactions of whatever the two dominant factions would be without it, so if (in the USA) you views are best represented by a blend of the corporate capitalist neoliberal wing of the Democratic and the anti-Trump wing of the Republican Party, RCV is a boon for you. If your views are not well represented in the current system, they will be even less represented with winner-take-all elections under RCV. For that, you need multiwinner elections producing proportional-ish results, whether party list, STV (the multiwinner system of which RCV/IRV is the single-winner form), MMP, or some other system.