The February 12 issue of the Columbus, Ohio Dispatch (that city’s major daily newspaper) carries this op-ed by Capital University Law Professor Mark R. Brown. Thanks to Steven Linnabary for the link.
The February 12 issue of the Columbus, Ohio Dispatch (that city’s major daily newspaper) carries this op-ed by Capital University Law Professor Mark R. Brown. Thanks to Steven Linnabary for the link.
Mark Brown is almost as much of a national treasure as you are, Richard. 🙂
>How can this be changed? One way is for voters to support
>third parties and minor candidates. Even if they cannot
>win, these players change outcomes, as Ralph Nader
>proved to Democrats in 2000.
What’s missing from this article is an acknowledgment that our two party system is largely a creature of our plurality voting system. Voters who vote for a ‘spoiler’ ultimately harm themselves by not voting for the candidate they perceive as the lessor of two evils.
A change of our voting system would change this dynamic.
I support Approval voting:
http://minguo.info/election_methods/approval_voting
AllAboutVoting: you’re exactly right about what was missing from this article and that occurred to me, too, while I was reading it. However, I strongly disagree with you when you say that “voters who vote for a ‘spoiler’ ultimately harm themselves.” Aside from my objection to the contemptuous word “spoiler,” a determination as to whether or not any particular vote ultimately harms the person who cast it is certainly up to that individual voter.
Excuse me AllAboutVoting? I’m harming myself by choosing the lesser of two evils rather than who I believe is the best candidate? And what makes you think that the Democrats and Republicans are the two ordained parties who are entitled to my vote? For another position paper on why to vote third party, go to my website at http://www.nysthirdparty.com/why.html (for anyone interested that is).