#VOTE FOR RANK CHOICE VOTING

[fluffypotatey]

Oh this is historical. I wonder what 100k post tumblr is going to write up about how first the 🍊🔫 then the President gets covid and then he steps down. Within a WEEK. And elections are in like, 2 months. You're going to have to live through more unprecedented times, sorry.

i hate it here

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[macklesufficient]

hey if ur a usamerican a cool thing to do is check on your ballot initiatives: https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page

here in missouri we have a shot to raise the minimum wage with guaranteed paid sick leave AND overturn the state abortion ban!!!!

but like other states there’s also a big fucking voter suppression omnibus: “requiring citizenship” (ie requiring more unnecessary documents/limiting turnout from poor people and poc) and eliminating any hope of ranked choice voting in the future

no matter how/if you’re voting federally i guarantee you there are local issues on your ballot that will save lives; there’s no excuse to sit it out completely

[soul-our-punk]

For anyone lamenting the choice-not-a-choice this year (vote Biden, for everyone's sake!!!), I urge you to look into organizations working to eliminate the Electoral College and those working to instate a Ranked Choice Vote. The electoral college is an antiquated system that allows a candidate to claim the presidency despite who the majority of the population prefers. In every instance the EC went against the popular vote, it was for a conservative candidate (Adams 1824, Hayes 1876, Harrison 1888, Bush 2000, Trump 2016). That last one should tell you exactly why every leftist needs to vote and vote blue in less than 4 months (Tuesday, November 5th).

Ranked choice voting will let us the freedom to vote how we want and for who we want, instead of "spoiler candidate" concerns or "throwing your vote away." It means we can have more than two parties be viable. It means third parties actually stand a chance to qualify for primary matching funds. It means US Americans can have actual options and have parties that more closely represent their views, instead of "the one actively making things more capitalistic and bigoted, and the one that's going along business as usual." I've said it elsewhere and I'll say it again, we cannot afford to let 2016 repeat itself. VOTE. We can fix presidential elections after we ensure a sociopath the SCOTUS says can shoot everyone who disagrees with him. https://www.nationalpopularvote.com https://fairvote.org/our-reforms/ranked-choice-voting/

[severmyneck]

city hall tomorrow 2pm. remember: democrats are not your allies.

[sl-walker]

Voting third party is absolutely voting for your friends, neighbors and selves to suffer. Never mind the whole world. In case anyone out there thinks it's somehow ambiguous.

[titleknown]

Hot Take: If you want to actually have a shot at getting US electoral politics out of its ratchet-esque death spiral, you need to start advocating for ranked-choice voting in your state.

Like, due to the way "first past the post" voting inevitably leads to a two-party system, it's basically the big reason that the political system has devolved into "Which Skeksis are we going to let drain the Gelfling essence this time," and ranked choice voting is one of the big ways that we can end up making it so that we can actually have another option besides "barely tolerable neoliberal war-pig" "literal insane theocratic fascists" and "spoiler candidate that will leech votes from the barely tolerable one and give the fascist a seat"

And like, it's a state-based issue! you can have a direct impact on it! Look up if there's any efforts to put it on the ballot for next election!

Here's the org trying to do that for my state, Arizona, look up the ones trying to do that for your states as well and post 'em in the reblogs!

[the-unforgotten]

i hope that the invigorated voter base spares some attention and energy to the national popular vote interstate compact and eventually ranked choice voting as well

[padawanduck]

Also hey in some terrible news voters in oregon and nevada rejected the rank choice voting ballot measure

and missouri approved the ballot measure banning rank choice voting. which was deceptively worded by first talking about banning non us citizens from voting (which is already fucking illegal)

and Alaska which passed rank choice voting in 2020 had another ballot measure to take it away. and as of the articles 5-6 days ago the repeal option was slightly ahead (50.8% vs 49.2%) with about 80% of the estimated vote total counted

[cazort]

I have seen a post circulating that talks about US politics and basically insinuates that in the upcoming presidential election, Biden is "99% Hitler" and Trump is "100% Hitler" and it makes me so frustrated that people can't see this as the disinformation and anti-vote propaganda that it is.

I'm intensely frustrated with Biden for how he has acted too little, too late on the Palestine issue, and how the U.S. continues to send billions in arms to Israel. And yet I'm going to be voting for him, and the analogy above is hugely dishonest. There is a massive difference between Biden and Trump:

The Biden administration and Democrats have strongly and unambiguously protected abortion rights, whereas Donald Trump appointed three supreme court justices who overturned Roe vs. Wade, and Republicans have across-the-board passed draconian abortion restrictions far more conservative than even their base.

Biden and the Democrats are strongly pro-LGBTQ rights including trans rights, at a time when Republicans are threatening trans rights in every state they control, and when even mainstream, "center-left" publications like the NY Times have been publishing transphobic drivel.

The Biden administration continues to expand healthcare access and work to control costs whereas the Trump administration worked to undermine much of the coverage we had.

The Trump administration was hopelessly corrupt and dysfunctional, with turnover in most appointed positions, scandal after scandal. Trump committed crime after crime in plain view, and incited an insurrection when he lost the election and has continued to back conspiracy theories undermining the very foundation of our democracy. Biden has been a relatively straightforward, "what you see is what you get" politician over his whole career, with a sort of level of flaws and corruption that is more typical of politics.

Trump had unprecedented anti-immigrant stances and under him, life became much more difficult for immigrants to the US as well as for non-citizens living here legally. Biden's administration has tried and worked against tough resistance to reverse many of the worst immigration changes made under the Trump administration, including doing things like giving 320,000 Venezuelans temporary protected status as refugees, trying to halt the border wall construction, and increasing legal immigration across-the-board.

Biden's rhetoric has become more critical of Israel over time, Biden has called for regime change and the ousting of Netanyahu, and under Biden the US Ambassador finally stopped voting against a ceasefire resolution and only abstained. Whereas Trump and the Republican's rhetoric has retained entirely critical of Palestinians and not at all critical of Israel, and Republicans have consistently supported draconian restrictions such as bans on BDS and some even introducing legislation banning referring to the region as Palestine. And weeks back, when public sentiment was not as anti-Israel as it is now, several Democrats voted for scrutiny to the Israeli military aid, whereas only one Republican did.

I am highly critical of Biden and I too am appalled that he's still running and that we don't have a better candidate who even ran in the primary. But it's far from truthful to say there is only a 1% difference between Biden and Trump, and even more dishonest and inaccurate to call Biden "99% Hitler", that's crazy talk and it serves only one purpose: to demotivate people and suppress voting.

There is a huge difference between these candidates. They will affect my daily life and your daily life and they will affect the whole world and they will affect Palestine.

Do you want a better candidate? Do you want to vote for an idealistic third-party candidate as a protest vote?

Support ranked choice voting first. Then, if you are in a state like Maine or Alaska that allows ranked choice for the president, vote for your ideal candidates and place Biden however low you want and then omit Trump entirely.

But if you do not have ranked choice in your state, especially if you live in a swing state, vote for Biden. And make sure to also join a movement that advances ranked choice, ideally Total Vote Runoff (TVR) as that is the best system for ranked choice.