An excellent review here of the continuing experience of Alaska (and others) with ranked-choice voting. Hill's opening paragraph contains more insight into human behavior than is usually found in a single paragraph. Yes, habits are helpful but often hinder. We often hear "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" but hear less often "...if we are forever stuck to the fly paper of old ideas ..." I've little doubt in the not too distant future we'll look back at RCV, as we've done with so much earlier "ain't broke" history (think women suffrage, Social Security, Medicare, etc.) and wonder: What were we thinking back then?
Yes, complainers - by definition - are going to complain. Hill counters them well here, and makes the suggestion, as others have, that the RCV counting tally should be made public early and often.
It's gratifying that RCV appears to finally be getting traction in this country. We may be a bit slow on some things but we usually catch up to the rest of the world eventually. And the complainers? Don't worry about them; they'll move on to other things (many opportunities there).
It's a shame that Alaska implemented single choice voting in their open primary. If ranked choice voting had been implemented, the four candidates advancing to the general election would have had a broader voter support.
Would a 48-candidate RCV election have been feasible? Please do not advocate that voters be allowed to rank only a few candidates. This is effectively voter suppression. I would suggest that approval voting may be ideal for such a first-round election with so many candidates.
An excellent review here of the continuing experience of Alaska (and others) with ranked-choice voting. Hill's opening paragraph contains more insight into human behavior than is usually found in a single paragraph. Yes, habits are helpful but often hinder. We often hear "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" but hear less often "...if we are forever stuck to the fly paper of old ideas ..." I've little doubt in the not too distant future we'll look back at RCV, as we've done with so much earlier "ain't broke" history (think women suffrage, Social Security, Medicare, etc.) and wonder: What were we thinking back then?
Yes, complainers - by definition - are going to complain. Hill counters them well here, and makes the suggestion, as others have, that the RCV counting tally should be made public early and often.
It's gratifying that RCV appears to finally be getting traction in this country. We may be a bit slow on some things but we usually catch up to the rest of the world eventually. And the complainers? Don't worry about them; they'll move on to other things (many opportunities there).
Hope Alaska get on board too in counting RCV tally early. Great to hear the whole state going RCv with a first election!
It's a shame that Alaska implemented single choice voting in their open primary. If ranked choice voting had been implemented, the four candidates advancing to the general election would have had a broader voter support.
Would a 48-candidate RCV election have been feasible? Please do not advocate that voters be allowed to rank only a few candidates. This is effectively voter suppression. I would suggest that approval voting may be ideal for such a first-round election with so many candidates.