Great explanation of RCV, how it works and for whom it works best, i.e., the voters and the right kind of candidate. I hope Palin and Begich don’t read it, little whiners!
Alaskan Republicans are used to the Republican primary winner winning the general election because Republicans outnumber Democrats. However, they don't outnumber the combined number of Democrats, members of the Independence Party, members of the eleven political parties seeking recognition and the independents. The Final Four - or in this case Final Three - voting system facilitated non-Republicans to affect the outcome of the general election. My complaints with the Final Four election system are the shifting of the diverse candidates from the higher participation general election to the open primary election, the primary is plurality instead of RCV, and possible infringement of the right of peaceful assembly of a political party.
This is another excellent piece by Hill: perceptive, complete, well-written, and based on considerable experience. Many folks (Hill names a few) are spinning the recent Alaska election to suit their political ideology, but as he clearly explains Peltola's win was largely due to her solid base, appeal beyond her base, and her strong campaign. And yes, those pesky Alaskan independents played their part. RCV helped bring out Peltola's qualities but without those qualities Alaska might well be sending someone else to Washington, D.C.
And Hill's opening sentence is great! As is the opening paragraph.
By any sensible metric, Begich was the correct winner of the election. We need better voting systems like STAR, Condorcet, or Approval that actually elect the best representative of the will of the voters.
Great explanation of RCV, how it works and for whom it works best, i.e., the voters and the right kind of candidate. I hope Palin and Begich don’t read it, little whiners!
Alaskan Republicans are used to the Republican primary winner winning the general election because Republicans outnumber Democrats. However, they don't outnumber the combined number of Democrats, members of the Independence Party, members of the eleven political parties seeking recognition and the independents. The Final Four - or in this case Final Three - voting system facilitated non-Republicans to affect the outcome of the general election. My complaints with the Final Four election system are the shifting of the diverse candidates from the higher participation general election to the open primary election, the primary is plurality instead of RCV, and possible infringement of the right of peaceful assembly of a political party.
This is another excellent piece by Hill: perceptive, complete, well-written, and based on considerable experience. Many folks (Hill names a few) are spinning the recent Alaska election to suit their political ideology, but as he clearly explains Peltola's win was largely due to her solid base, appeal beyond her base, and her strong campaign. And yes, those pesky Alaskan independents played their part. RCV helped bring out Peltola's qualities but without those qualities Alaska might well be sending someone else to Washington, D.C.
And Hill's opening sentence is great! As is the opening paragraph.
The question isn't why Palin didn't win; it's why Begich didn't win: https://scottsthotts.substack.com/p/instant-runoff-ranked-choice-voting
By any sensible metric, Begich was the correct winner of the election. We need better voting systems like STAR, Condorcet, or Approval that actually elect the best representative of the will of the voters.