On 12/2/2012 11:50 AM, Michael Ossipoff wrote:
... Voting system reform can only happen as part of a larger package of improvements that will come by electing a non-Republocrat party to office. Preferably a progressive one. That would be the Greens, the most winnable progressive party. FairVote says that the LIbertarians, like the Greens, favor IRV.
The Green party _claims_ to support IRV. Yet they do not use it to elect their internal party delegates. And I haven't heard of the Green party putting any effort into using IRV in their primary elections.
If they -- or any party -- did use IRV, then I and many other voters would support more of their candidates.
... So then, how can we get a better voting system? Vote for the Green nominee in every official public election, starting with the next one.
Michael also had what I think is a better idea: vote for a third-party candidate for Secretary of State. For clarification, Secretary of State is the official who handles a state's election. Such votes would hopefully express a desire for election reform.
FYI, about a year ago I met the Green-party candidate here when he attended a presentation I gave, and I voted for him in the last election, and I expressed support for him on a progressive online resource (even though he prefers IRV). He got 3 percent of the vote, which is about twice what each other third-party Secretary of State candidate in that election got.
I also agree with Kristofer's statement about usage being very important. People need to try something on a small scale before they are comfortable with trusting it at the large scale. Where will that happen? More importantly, _when_ will a U.S. third party wake up and adopt better ballots and a better counting method for electing party officials, the way the Pirate parties already do?
Richard ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
