#VOTE FOR RANK CHOICE VOTING

[titleknown]

So, a comparatively high amount of states are voting on the fate of ranked choice voting this year. Missouri is voting on whether or not to kill it, Alaska is voting on whether or not to keep it, and most importantly, Nevada, Oregon and Idaho are voting on whether or not to adopt ranked choice voting, with maybe Colorado to follow.

And if you live in these states, even if you don't want to vote at the top of the ticket, I urge you to get out there and vote in favor of ranked choice voting on all of them.

Like, the two-party monopoly is a big part of the reason why politics in this country is so shit, and a big part of that is our "first past the post" system making it basically mathematically impossible for candidates outside of them to win anything beyond a local or state level.

So, if you want to try and break the cycle of voting for the lesser evil, of bipartisan cruelty towards the Global South and the country's own citizens alike, we need to change this and we need to vote on it where we can.

[monstrousliarstold]

[creature-wizard]

Reminder:

Yes, in a perfect world we could vote for and elect a third-party candidate with a stronger pro-Palestine position than Harris. But without federal ranked choice voting, getting a third party candidate elected president is essentially impossible. Also, getting rid of the electoral college is a must. The Republican Party, meanwhile, will never let these things happen if they have their way. So let's do our best to keep the Republicans out of office this election, and stick these things on our future to-do list so that down the road so we can elect a third-party candidate.

[spaceasianmillennial]

Important for NYC Primary Ranked Choice Voting and Shutting Out Andrew Cuomo

[radiotheradio]

Wow it’s so cool that Elon and Donnie Trump want to kill each other! I hope we live in a world where Democrats will actually use this leverage to help push back against the spending bill the threatens to cut food stamps and healthcare to millions of Americans instead of doing fuck all like they always do!

Anyway, for no particular reason, I see it prudent to remind you all that if you want something more than fascist party or wet paper rag party, that YOU could help push for Ranked Choice Voting! You could vote for your favorite third party AND THEN put the wet paper rag as your damage control! The cycle of bullshit could stop if we implement RCV into local, then state, the federal levels. You can join your local RVC organization today!

[magicianparrish]

ZOHRAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ladyluscinia]

If you are getting sick of the two-party system and elections running candidates you hate, or incumbents you can't rebuke without electing someone so much worse, or partisan primaries repeatedly giving you the wing of your too-large-tent party that sucks... You need to look into making voting reform a big part of your political priorities.

Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) can be a big part of that!

And in 2024, RCV (also sometimes called IRV for "instant-runoff voting") is going to be on a lot of ballots, so check your state and get informed! Here's a list that I'm not sure is comprehensive, but I did research it for you to have somewhere to start:

First off, here's a post with some resources for you to do your ballot research with! I used Ballotpedia to look up this list, for example, after most of the RCV news only mentioned the 4 states with the most straightforward "vote yes for RCV" measures.

In Alaska... the state approved a RCV system in 2020 that has been a model success, but now the people with narrower support who lost their elections to broadly popular moderates introduced the Repeal Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative to repeal it. This will be on the Nov 5 ballot as an Initiative, and people need to Vote No.

In Arizona... it's possible that optional RCV and a workaround RCV ban will both be on the ballot. The ban from the Legislature doesn't stop RCV but prevents the primary system often used with it - the goal is to make RCV harder to implement. It will be on the Nov 5 ballot as Proposition 133, and people need to Vote No. The Eliminate Partisan Primaries Amendment has RCV options and has turned in its signatures, so it may be on the Nov 5 ballot - Keep Watch and Vote Yes if it appears.

In Colorado... a Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative modeled on Alaska's could bring RCV to state executive, state legislative, and congressional office elections. This may be on the Nov 5 ballot - Keep Watch and Vote Yes if it appears.

In Idaho... a Top-Four Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative modeled on Alaska's will bring RCV to Congressional office, state legislature, elective state office, and county elective office elections. This will be on the Nov 5 ballot as an Initiative (1), and people need to Vote Yes.

In Missouri... the Missouri GOP has been shoehorning in deceptive Constitutional Amendments to reduce voter influence for the past several elections. This year it's a ban on RCV hidden under a useless ban on non-citizen voting (which is already illegal and the state Constitution already says "citizens" when saying who can vote). This will be on the Nov 5 ballot as the Require Citizenship to Vote and Prohibit Ranked-Choice Voting Amendment, and people need to Vote No.

In Montana... signatures have been submitted for two separate constitutional amendments, one establishing Top-Four primaries and another requiring a majority-vote system to be implemented (which would likely be a run-off or RCV system). These may be on the Nov 5 ballot - Keep Watch and Vote Yes if they appear.

In Nevada... In 2022 the first round of a Top-Five Ranked-Choice Voting Initiative was approved by 52.94%. It has to be approved again in 2024 in order to be implemented. It will bring RCV to Congressional office, statewide executive, and state legislature elections. This will be on the Nov 5 ballot as Question 3, and people need to Vote Yes.

In Oregon... a Ranked-Choice Voting for Federal and State Elections Measure will bring RCV to Presidential, Congressional office, governor, Secretary of state, attorney general, state treasurer, and commissioner of labor and industries elections. This will be on the Nov 5 ballot as a Measure, and people need to Vote Yes.

And a bonus in South Dakota... it's not RCV, but the Top-Two Primary Elections Initiative (Amendment H) would be a significant voting reform, and it will be on the Nov 5 ballot. Do some research if you live there and decide if this would help or hinder elections.

[destiel-news-network]

(Source)

The ranked-choice system marks Alaska as one of the few places in the USA that doesn't use a "First Past the Post" rule. Political scientists say first-past-the-post systems lead to increased polarization & entrench a two-party system.

[porcupine-girl]

Because I’m having an argument with someone in the comments of a post who clearly does not actually understand how elections work:

Every state sets its own rules for how presidential elections work. This is why some have voter ID laws and some don’t, some have heavy restrictions on absentee/mail-in voting while some mail a ballot to everyone, etc.

You may have heard a lot of people saying to push for ranked-choice voting if you want third parties to be viable. This is something to push for ON A STATE LEVEL. Maine and Alaska now use it (yes for federal elections too) thanks to statewide ballot measures/referenda.

That means that no, “showing politicians how angry you are” or whatever by voting third party will not have any effect on whether you get RCV. Politicians are not involved. You need to push for a statewide vote, and you just need to convince the other citizens of your state.

“That’s hard!” “I live in a red state!” Yes. Nobody said it would be a quick fix. And I live in Ohio, where thanks to statewide votes we not only defeated the legislature’s attempt to change the rules for amending the constitution, we then amended the constitution to protect abortion rights. Even though this is a state that is very likely to go to Trump especially now that our senator is his VP pick. It’s not impossible.

But anyhow, when people say to fight for ranked choice voting, that’s what they mean.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jason Rosenbaum at STLPR, via NPR:

ST. LOUIS — Five states have banned ranked choice voting in the last two months, bringing the total number of Republican-leaning states now prohibiting the voting method to 10. Missouri could soon join them. If approved by voters, a GOP-backed measure set for the state ballot this fall would amend Missouri’s constitution to ban ranked choice voting. Ranked choice voting allows voters to rank candidates and ensures the winner gains majority support, as compared to the vast majority of elections, where someone can win with a plurality of votes. “We believe in the one person, one vote system of elections that our country was founded upon,” Missouri state Sen. Ben Brown, the ballot measure’s sponsor, said in an interview. In the 2022 election cycle, a group of Republicans and Democrats unsuccessfully sought to advance a ranked choice voting proposal in Missouri. That would have instituted nonpartisan primaries for statewide, congressional and state legislative elections. The top four candidates would advance to the general election, where voters could then rank candidates from favorite to least favorite. If someone gets a majority of initial votes, they win. If no one gets a majority, the fourth place contender would be eliminated. And voters who ranked that candidate first would have their vote go to their second choice. This process would continue until a candidate gets a majority.

The Republican war on ranked-choice voting, including in Missouri, is an attack on democracy, as red states have passed preemption laws banning municipalities and counties from enacting RCV.

[thatstormygeek]

If you're on the fence about whether or not ranked choice voting would give you better representation in government, the fact that Republicans are moving to preemptively ban it might give you a clue.

[tomorrowusa]

Following quickly after Canada, Australia goes to the polls on Saturday. Though because of the time difference, it will seem more like late Friday/very early Saturday to people in the Americas, Africa, and Europe.

To avoid confusion for people outside Australia, names of parties and political groupings require a little explanation.

The word Coalition refers to three right of center parties which have generally acted together as a single unit in Parliament for decades. They are: The Liberal Party of Australia, The Liberal National Party of Queensland, and the National Party of Australia. Despite the word liberal, those parties are more like the pre-Brexit Conservative Party in the UK in terms of ideology. In everyday parlance, people sometimes use Coalition and Liberal interchangeably – probably to the annoyance of the National Party. The leader of the Coalition is currently opposition leader Peter Dutton.

Currently the Australian Labor Party (ALP) is in power. It's not greatly different from the current Labour Party in the UK – except for the lack of a u. The ALP is headed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

As with Canada, the colors associated with the parties are opposite those used for ideologically related parties in the US. So Red = Labor, Blue = the Coalition.

Independents are a thing and are currently trending in Australia. And there are also smaller parties such as the Green Party.

The ALP had been trailing in the polls but seems to have pulled ahead in recent months. While Donald Trump hasn't threatened to annex Australia, he's still casting a shadow over the election campaign.

Australia holds a national election on Saturday, and a campaign coinciding with the U.S. president's stop-start tariffs and volatile diplomacy is bolstering the prospects of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his ruling centre-left Labor Party. Albanese does not name Trump when he tells voters a conservative government led by the Liberal Party opposition would bring "chaos" to Australia. "The last thing you need is a volatile government," Albanese said on Monday. "Trump is affecting everybody," said business owner Ian Atherton, 67, voting in Bondi Junction, among the 2.4 million Australians to have already cast a ballot by Monday. "What is happening externally is far more important than what is happening internally. I just want to keep the status quo," he added. When Trump was inaugurated in January, Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton was ahead in the polls, as Australians expressed anger over the cost of living and housing affordability.

In the 2022 election, the ALP won 77 seats in the 150 member House of Representatives. They are currently the favorites but may fall short of the 76 seats needed for a majority.

Most polls in the final stretch of the campaign show Labor ahead, although it may need the support of independent lawmakers to form government. "Voters want stability while an idiot like that is in charge in the United States," said Lawrence Jurman, 71. "I think it has hurt the Liberals."

The capital L Liberals are seen as being more Trump-friendly. A photo emerged of a Coalition senator wearing a MAGA cap and that did them no good.

Anyway, Australia's House of Representatives is elected from single member districts though a ranked choice system is used. So in close races with lots of candidates, it may take an extra day or so to determine a winner.

And in Australia, a constituency is called an electorate. The electorates have names rather than numbers; names for the electorates come from either geographic locations or famous dead Australians.

[tvthetv]

Just remember: if we have ranked choice voting, we wouldn’t have to give up voting third party/an actually good candidate for the lesser evil ever again. We’d get the strategic benefits of voting third party AND damage control at the same time. We could avoid all this bullshit forever. We have the technology. Just remember that.

[sleepnoises]

in re ballot phraseology btw I'm crazy spoiled by living in california, one of 8?? states that allow all elections to be done by mail. i am never in a booth when i vote. i am in my home and i am googling things

[phantomrose96]

Had a dream the GOP nominated some Joe Schmoe to run on the Republican presidential ticket and that Trump was running under his own party. Got so excited they were gonna pull some BullMoose bullshit and split the party and therefore definitely lose the election. Very disappointed to wake up.

[silvialightning]

It’s such a relief that Zohran Mamdani won so early in the Mayoral Primary race. (Cuomo conceded bc he’s behind more than anybody expected.)

Because if it went into the 3rd or 4th round and if he barely passed 50% you know the main talking points would be, “Cuomo was so unpopular ppl voted for literally anyone else, Mamdani only won bc he got his name out there and nobody knew the others, young ppl were tricked by impossible policies, Mamdani is far left like Trump is far right, etc.”

Those will still be the talking points, but they’ll be so blatantly false because of how much Zohran Mamdani won by. For someone that was an unknown vs Cuomo, that winning percentage should be a message that people want different policies than what Establishment Dems (who backed Cuomo) are pushing for.

Media will undermine his progressive policies, media will continue claims that Mamdani is antisemetic. If Cuomo runs Independent in the main race media might back him again. So there is definitely more fight needed during the main elections.

But this is a neon sign to Establishment Democrats that they need to change, that progressive voices can and should primary against establishment democrats who will not change, and that if you stand for something and message it properly the voters will listen.

Rank Choice thing to note: (While technically nobody has gotten the >50% needed to win the Rank Choice voting, in the first round Mamdani is beating Cuomo with 43.5% VS 36.4%. With 93% of votes tallied so far.) The funniest thing that could happen is in the Rank Choice rounds, Brad Lander surpasses Andrew Cuomo for 2nd place. Not likely but pls.