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reidfleming2k20 t1_j6gavff wrote

Reply to comment by Human802 in Debating ranked-choice voting in Vermont by orange_wires

The downside is that people don't understand it and inadvertently vote for people they don't like. That's what happened in Burlington. I know that seems amazing because the concept is relatively simple, but a lot of people just don't get it and never will.

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EveryDayIsAGif t1_j6hycqv wrote

Personally I think that the "just don't get it" is a symptom which can be solved with education and time, especially education of children and young adults.

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reidfleming2k20 t1_j6i1706 wrote

The problem is that no municipality is going to train people for a voting system that they plan to implement in 20 years when they're old enough to vote.

A series of runoffs with separate dates seems like a pain in the ass, but at least you can be 100% sure that every vote cast was intentional.

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EveryDayIsAGif t1_j6j02b7 wrote

It sounds like you are remembering the gripes of the 2009 mayoral election in Burlington specifically? I would ask that you consider the many, many more success stories. Ranked-choice elects candidates who more accurately represent the will of the populace they govern and to me that is very worth the change

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reidfleming2k20 t1_j6j3b17 wrote

I saw what happened when Burlington tried very hard to educate the electorate about IRV and failed. It was only more obvious in that case because we ended up with a second Bob Kiss term, when it was obvious to most people that he was an utter disaster as mayor; but I'm sure that every similar election has people inadvertently voting for someone they don't actually like.

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landodk t1_j6iy6e5 wrote

Even in 2000 we weren’t sure if people voted for who they wanted

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landodk t1_j6ixpb9 wrote

If you don’t get it, do it the old fashioned way. Pick one. Then move on

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reidfleming2k20 t1_j6j2ubk wrote

That's the problem, a lot of people didn't know that they could do that. I know it all seems very simple to you but ask anyone who was in Burlington at the time, it was a total nightmare.

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landodk t1_j6j3wdu wrote

Seems like a rollout problem. When was it? Ithink that’s an important lesson not a reason not to. Republicans and probably Democrats would benefit from clearly saying “just us”. Third parties would benefit from taking the extra time to show people how they can vote for them first and then the major party.

Probably design ballot to clarify you “may vote for just one if preferred” that language benefits the main parties designing it anyway

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reidfleming2k20 t1_j6j4nz3 wrote

  1. As I've said, they were over the top in their education efforts, especially the Progs because it benefited them the most. But it's always going to be confusing to the American electorate no matter what you do, that was very clear. "Go to x polling place on y date and vote for your favorite" is about as complicated as a lot of people are ever going to be able to handle.
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