The Centrist Project, which has been organized for four years, will concentrate its efforts in 2018 on electing some independent candidates to the Colorado legislature. In the past the Centrist Project has only said it planned to elect independent candidates to Congress, particularly U.S. Senate. That goal is not being abandoned but according to this story, the biggest effort will relate to the Colorado legislature.
Colorado has lenient ballot access laws for independent candidates.
The Colorado project is bound to fail. Without IRV, ‘centrists’ have no chance. The defensive vote syndrome (ie. I hate the other team more than I like my team’s candidate) is very strong in US voters.
Don, it’ll only fail because of a lack of funding and lack of understanding of the US voter.
Voters in this country vote for the party, not the candidate. That’s why independents don’t do nearly as well either. Thus parties need to focus on educating the public about the party platform and get the BRAND stuck in the minds of individuals. We live a corporate environment now where people think in terms of brand loyalty, not the “best person for the job”. As such, parties need to stop focusing on the candidate first, and instead focus on their party brand first. The candidate only matters after the brand is widely recognized and understood.
Aiden – yes and no. Independents and minor parties *would have a chance* of winning with IRV, because it is more likely that a majority of voters would vote for the independent/minor party candidate as their #1 or #2 choice. Without the ability for a voter to ‘rank’ their preferences, defensive voting and the two party system wins the day in single winner, single vote elections.
Looking at it differently, IRV is the biggest threat to the duopoly that exists in the US today. That’s why D and R leadership works tirelessly to keep IRV from being implemented.