Seeing as how some people here on Lemmy get upset at any mention of Ranked Choice Voting and respond that, in their opinion, it’s not perfect, and that we should therefore keep the voting system we have while we debate which alternative is perfect for several decades, allow me to preemptively respond.
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RCV has the momentum and is infinitely superior to what we have now. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of fantastic.
I’d be happy if a community chose one of the other options. I don’t care. They’re all better than what we have and we should be celebrating every city, county and state that switches to any of them. That’s the purpose of this post.
Trying to demonize one option because you don’t think it’s perfect is just muddying the waters and subjecting us to decades of more of the shit sandwich we have now while we debate which alternative is flawless (hint: none of them are).
You’ll never get everyone to agree on which option is best. A vast majority of us can agree, though, that FPTP is garbage, and RCV is way way better.
It’s like you’re sitting there with nothing to eat but spoiled meat and it’s making you deathly sick, someone comes by and offers you a fresh juicy hamburger, and you respond, “No! I’ll accept nothing less than Filet Mignon!” Dude! You’re eating spoiled meat! Take the damn burger!
I hope they implement ranked choice, so many of the current problems are from the two party system which is inevitable from first past the post.
Unfortunately, RCV doesn’t end the two party system. It’s better than what we have, but only marginally. My hope is that when voters complain about it, the next step is not to repeal RCV but to evolve into Star voting.
RCV at least allows for options, and it’s pretty easy to understand. First past the post is literally the worst.
Agreed. But it still encourages strategic voting and discourages third-party spoilers. It’s fptp with extra steps, and it gets worse the more candidates you have. If you don’t pick a frontrunner first or second, there’s a chance your vote isn’t counted at all.
First past the post is literally the worst.
A Nice funnel for the public sentiment tho
I agree it does not solve our problem but it would make more than just a marginal difference. It would heavily disincentivize going too far politically one way to win your primary.
Trying to demonize one option because you don’t think it’s perfect is just muddying the waters and subjecting us to decades of more of the shit sandwich we have now while we debate which alternative is flawless (hint: none of them are).
I really have been quite surprised over the past eight years or so by how opposed so many people are to any kind of change. I suppose it’s because the status quo is working well enough for them, and, I mean, good for them, but I hope they can recognize that not all of us are so lucky.
D.C. deserves statehood.
some people here on Lemmy get upset at any mention of Ranked Choice Voting and respond that, in their opinion, it’s not perfect
To those people, I say: do not let perfection be the enemy of progress.
Also, it’s absurd, because it’s clearly better than what we have now. I suspect many of those people are trolls.
Seeing as how some people here on Lemmy get upset at any mention of Ranked Choice Voting and respond that, in their opinion, it’s not perfect, and that we should therefore keep the voting system we have while we debate which alternative is perfect for several decades, allow me to preemptively respond.
The same person will have a melt down at any suggestion of voting third choice because their preferred guy will “lose” a vote or whatever.
These people are bad faith actors or idiots. They are just shilling status quo which is becoming increasingly untenable for anyone who works for money.
I had an argument with someone who said they opposed instant runoff voting because letting people move their votes around is tantamount to giving them extra votes
That’s been a continual strategy to try to deter and block RCV. They argued that in front of the courts in Maine when the state moved to RCV.
In the end, I feel there’s one big defense: no matter where my vote ends up, I only get one for the last candidate standing that I voted for.
The other voting systems where you rate candidates on a scale, it’s a bit muddier as to what a “vote” is. A vote should be your voice that’s the same as anyone else’s in the electorate. As long as all humans get the same voice, it should be able to take any form.
That definition (“all voters are equal”) is a good starting point, but it’s also less watertight than it seems. I will show you an obviously unfair system that exploits that definition:
All voters vote for one candidate. The candidate with the second-most votes wins.
I am extremely in favor of RCV as long as it applies to the national level.
It CANNOT end at the state level. If my electoral vote has a chance of being wasted on a 3rd party candidate that has no chance, then the system is EVEN WORSE than our current system.
As an example, if there was a chance that Trump could win because a few electoral votes went to Bernie, I would just put Biden as my first vote. But if the electoral vote would also shift to the next available candidate, then I would vote Bernie first.
Good news! RCV already solves that problem
If Bernie didn’t get enough votes to win, the votes for him go to the voters’ second choice candidate (Biden – few voters would want Bernie-Trump). If those combined votes are enough for him to win, then Biden wins in that state. In RCV, Trump would only win if people actually preferred him over Biden
My entire comment was addressing that assumption. That assumption requires 2 levels of RCV, state vote and national (electoral) vote.
If RCV was implemented only at the state level, and the state chose Bernie, and that was the end of it, then it would pull electoral votes away from Biden.
If the electoral vote was also allowed to shift after the national electoral total was determined, then it’s all good.
Then you may be interested in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
We can’t directly institute RCV in the electoral college but we can control how the delegates to the electoral college are pledged. Unfortunately since the 12th amendment we are no longer able to have multiple votes in the EC. It either succeeds or throws the vote to Congress. Which solved the problem at the time but tied our hands now.
I’m actually well aware of that. It’s essentially a way to get rid of the electoral college for the popular vote without actually getting rid of the EC. And I’d love for it to be implemented in enough states to work.
However, I think RCV can still work. It’s just that the state allocated votes would need to first look at the state level race for president, determine a ranking, then look at the national level race, and allocate to the highest rank that can possibly win.
Oh I agree that it’s possible. We’re just in the weird position of having to work around the Constitution.
I think the analogy would be a plant-based burger from Beyond or Impossible, but I totally agree with the sentiment!
Anyone arguing FPTP is better than ranked choice is stupid or has sinister motives.
All this circle jerking over RCV is missing the point that the #fascist #GOP isn’t going to allow you to have RCV & have already made it illegal in at least 5 states.
#VoteBlueIfYouEverWantToVoteAgain
How does supporting this limit anyone’s ability to vote in November?
It doesn’t, but it’s absofuckinglutely putting the cart before the horse.
OP is wasting time tilting at windmills to attack people who agree with them while the GQP does real damage.
I want RCV or STAR as bad as the rest of you, but this is all a waste of time until there is a Democratic majority that will enact RCV or STAR voting.
Because the #fascist #GOP isn’t going to do that.
The vast majority of people here advocate for RCV and some occasionally introduce nuance to discuss its pro/cons just to make sure people don’t (mistakenly) think it’ll solve all our problems. You are being needlessly passive aggressive and tilting at windmills in your opening text all because people don’t 100% praise it top to bottom with every comment.
Can you please point to the people making passive-aggressive posts in this thread before you posted this comment?
The first sentence/paragraph from OP
Seeing as how some people here on Lemmy get upset at any mention of Ranked Choice Voting and respond that, in their opinion, it’s not perfect, and that we should therefore keep the voting system we have while we debate which alternative is perfect for several decades, allow me to preemptively respond.
Pre-emptively responding to something they have encountered on Lemmy in the past is not being passive-aggressive. It sounds more like you take offense to the idea that such criticisms should not be pre-empted.
I’m not offended and I think they are mischaracterizing a valid dialogue. They’re picking a fight with people who largely agree with them and are reducing everyone’s point to “don’t bother changing anything until we find a perfect solution,” which is not something I’ve ever seen surrounding RCV. Frankly I’d like to see them show examples. They just seem upset people are discussing the merits as well as the shortcomings, even if most of us still think it should be implemented.
I usually agree with your posts because you are a pretty smart person who I regularly see introduce nuance, so I am surprised to see such a strong reaction from you here.
I only see one person here picking a fight.
This was disappointing but I’ll move on. Clearly this is not going to be productive.
But they’re not introducing nuance, they’re invoking FUD.
Their arguments aren’t, “RCV is way better than FPTP, and it’s great that communities are adopting it, but I happen to like this similar system even better. Let me tell you about it.” I would love to see discussions like that.
Instead, their arguments are “RCV bad. [Other system] good.”. Their arguments play right into the hands of those that want to delay/avoid change so that they can continue to manipulate elections.
Who are “they”? What other systems are they advocating for? All I ever see on Lemmy is people hating FPTP (rightfully so) and in favor of RCV (rightfully so) with the occasional person remarking on limitations or (more commonly in my experience) saying it’s not a magic bullet solution and is only part of comprehensive reform. An kmportant part of it, no doubt, but still a part and a lot of people seem to overestimate RCV‘s ability to save us.
Pointing this out does not make one against RCV.
