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dfresh429 t1_j4hgfzp wrote

God i would live RCV. I hate the idea of having not being able to vote for my preferred 3rd party candidate because it would be a "waste" of a vote. RCV makes so much sense.

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MamaBearForestWitch t1_j4hnkz1 wrote

Ranked choice voting is the first step we have to take to get away from this two-party stranglehold on American politics.

People often have a hard time with change, but RCV isn't really hard to understand. In fact, we rank-choice things all the time: "I want ham, but if they don't have it, then turkey would be fine". "Chocolate is my first choice if they have it. If not, chocolate chip. I guess if they don't have either, I'll take vanilla"

It actually opens up our political choices, because you can vote for a third party candidate without feeling you've "wasted" your vote, or inadvertently helping a candidate you really oppose by siphoning a vote away from their opponent. I would love to see RCV everywhere.
(edited for typo)

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PurpleVermont t1_j4hq3pc wrote

I agree that we need a better voting system to get out from under the two-party stranglehold and make it viable for people to vote for someone they actually like.

However, RCV can lead to some strange and undesirable outcomes (such as where voting against your preferred candidate helps them win by eliminating their strongest competition) See this article for some examples:

>http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~unger/articles/irv.html

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RoadAdventures t1_j4ll7uw wrote

This kind of comment is why I love hanging around Reddit, despite its many frustrations.

That information is very much appreciated, kind stranger :)

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PurpleVermont t1_j4lqpjd wrote

What I'm less sure about is whether these are weird pathological cases thought up by math nerds (like myself) that would be vanishingly unlikely to happen IRL, or if these are serious problems that more people need to be thinking about. But until someone convinces me that these are extremely unlikely to happen IRL, I will continue my skepticism of RCV. It may still be better than what we have now though!

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RoadAdventures t1_j4m5qx4 wrote

> But until someone convinces me that these are extremely unlikely to happen IRL

That's hard to prove without real life examples.

At the end of the day, one can use the one voter in those examples to stand in for a group of people that decides to vote a certain way and the math will hold.

And it would be tough to predict future voter behavior without actual results from real elections - can only speculate so much before one's assumptions become unrealistic.

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PurpleVermont t1_j4m87sh wrote

I don't know if you could do anything useful with past polling results, since that only gives a person's first choice, but in most cases you could make reasonable assumptions about 2nd and 3rd choices, and try some simulations or something.

Most of the examples you have 3-4 candidates that are all almost equally liked. That may be more likely in a primary than a general election.

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RoadAdventures t1_j4mp5qb wrote

> but in most cases you could make reasonable assumptions about 2nd and 3rd choices, and try some simulations or something.

That is not what I was suggestion - those would be the assumptions that would lead to pure guesswork as results.

I was talking about monitoring the actual results from states or towns that are using the specific voting methods that are discussed.

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Chappy_Sinclair_ t1_j4h4yuu wrote

My garbageman says that he has come up with a way to validate string theory.

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DerekPDX t1_j4hlt06 wrote

I would really love to hear more about that.

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akmjolnir t1_j4h8sbg wrote

Bold assumption the NH leaders & lawmakers have functional brains to care about the greater good/what's actually best.

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Azr431 t1_j4jg9vz wrote

The only people that don’t like RCV are right wingers. Fascism isn’t sustainable under it

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juliegnh t1_j4kz8qi wrote

I am done with the current way of voting and parties. Time to give RCV a shot.

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checdc t1_j4i9w9l wrote

With the level of influence media and social media have these days they would just push their candidates to victory

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Wide_Television_7074 t1_j4mg7wp wrote

let’s just throw away American exceptionalism why we are at it…. Who comes up with this crap?

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Winter-Rewind t1_j4nszmo wrote

That article reads like a cheap infomercial. If you vote now, we’ll throw in a 2nd and a 3rd slimy politician for the price of one! And if you vote using your frontal lizard cortex within the next 10 minutes, we’ll expedite the results and you’ll get it in 3-6 months. I can’t believe that idiot has a PhD 😂

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littleirishmaid t1_j4hm9vr wrote

Except most people don’t understand it and do not like the results when it is used.

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eecooney t1_j4ig2c7 wrote

Any evidence for this? My understanding was that people have actually liked it after using it. Doesn't Maine use it now?

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sjm294 t1_j4ih8vj wrote

We do use it in Maine. I really love it because you can be a savvy voter. Paul LaPage lost his run for governor and RCV helped make that happen.

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littleirishmaid t1_j4imde3 wrote

By savvy, you mean deceitful.

Btw, I do not know Lepage very well, but it seems you used against a candidate, and not for one. Also, you are from Maine, stop putting your politics in the NH sub.

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Reddit_in_her_voice t1_j4h981n wrote

"my chosen career field supports my pet politics" wow

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jdkeith t1_j4hv1j7 wrote

I’ve been moving more toward unranked choice voting which is the same as now except you can vote for more than one candidate per position.

The main advantage is that counting can be done locally as it should be.

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Rude-Candidate-7963 t1_j4jccu5 wrote

RCV is TOTAL BS! A second place finish and you can get elected? ASININE!

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Quirky_Butterfly_946 t1_j4hniqz wrote

This sounds like Masshole talk. There is no need for RCV as it is fine the way it is now. Go peddle your BS in another state

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