President of the Florida League of Women Voters Explains Why the League Opposed Top-Two

Patricia Brigham, president of the Florida League of Women Voters, has this op-ed in the Sarasota Sentinel, explaining why the League originally supported the top-two initiative, and why and how it changed its mind. The piece says the League still favors letting independent voters vote in partisan primaries, but that there are other ways to achieve that goal.


Comments

President of the Florida League of Women Voters Explains Why the League Opposed Top-Two — 17 Comments

  1. LWV fronted for the Democratic Party in the redistricting cases.

    The reasoning of the NAACP for their opposition was specious. They reasoned that in districts with a large black population, a black candidate would win the Democratic nomination, and there probably would not be a Republican candidate.

    But under Top 2, a black Democrat and white Democrat would advance to to the general election and all the white independents, Republicans, and Democrats would vote for the White candidate.

    Even if this were true, I don’t see why it would be bad if the candidate preferred by the majority of the voters was chosen as their representative.

    Claiming that letting nonpartisan voters in partisan primaries is not worthy as being characterized as a goal.

  2. How many now ZILLION election reform groups ???

    esp brain dead ignorant about 3 choices math ???

  3. ANNOUNCEMENT
    By James Ogle [One], Vice Chair
    http://Www.pprelectoralcollege.com

    We understand what you are saying about Prez and VP, that you voted for two males, and some others are free to vote for two females.

    Everyone is free to vote as they wish.

    The item “Opposite gender ahead of our own and consecutively ranked alternating genders thereafter with voluntary opt-in” has been approved by the “United Coalition USA”, the 538-member Electoral College, of whom only eight voted on platform items.

    Anyone may vote on the platform items. We use the Ogle Method.

    Many items are write-in items, and many write-in items are shown in the link below to the totals, and should you not like any items don’t rank them when you mark our paper ballot.

    Then spread the word to defeat the item(s) you don’t like.

    The Ogle Method and the Hagenbach-Bishoff Method are two voting systems viewed as perfect. One is for decision-making (Ogle Method) and one is for electing only names (Hagen-bach Bischoff or PPR).

    Unity Platform USA totals:

    http://www.allpartysystem.com/e-aps-6-totals.php

  4. When we consider the loss of RCV in MA, and the loss of Top 2 in FL, but the win of Top 4+ in AK, one has to wonder if election reform must a Frankenstein bill with parts of various reforms to get enough votes.

  5. Consider, as well, that RCV is popular in Maine because it’s combined with district voting for President

  6. Wannabee tyrants will always use Frankenstein parts to become actual tyrants —

    see Hitler 1933-1934 – using FATAL parts of 1919 Germany Const —

    to become the *legal* defacto monarch of Germany in 1933-1945.

    What happened to each nazi HACK/ROBOT *elected* in 1919-1945 *elections* to the German Parliament ???

  7. @WalterZiobro

    As I said earlier I don’t think the loss of RCV in Massachusetts is because a Frankenstein miss mash is necessary to push it over the finish line. If it weren’t for COVID it likely would have passed as they would have been able to do townhalls and other grassroots messaging to push it over the line. Alaska has the advantage of having a very small population where it doesn’t take much money to influence the public. It’s also telling the pro side barely ever talked about the Top 4 primary and mostly talked about the ranked choice voting part.

    The reason RCV is popular in Maine has nothing to do with their district based electoral college but the fact they got sick of people like Paul LePage getting elected with plurality wins. A cursory glance at Massachusetts elections shows that while there were a few plurality wins, they were barely so and there probably wasn’t any “spoiler” effect in those elections. So there wasn’t this sense of urgency for it in the general public I think. I don’t think it helped that very few cities use RCV unlike in Maine where a significant chunk of the population had already been using it for years. Even so, 45% is nothing to sneeze at. I suspect next time they’ll push it over the edge.

  8. It’s true that in Massachusetts, most voters didn’t feel the need for RCV because there are few races than have more than 2 candidates, and many without even two. SO, given that Massachusetts has high petition requirements, particularly for qualified small parties, that the reform to combine with RCV in Massachusetts is reduced signatures and/or optional filing fees for candidates so that voters will see more candidates, and the need for RCV.

  9. HIGH-LOW Rank order for RED communist States to blue fascist States and their gerrymander *election* systems ???

    Last of R in ME CD2 ???
    ——-
    PR and APPV
    TOTSOP

  10. @Jim Riley

    Nothing specious about it. The potential loss of black representation is a real concern for the south in general. The system they have now of mostly nominating black people in safe Democratic districts has worked to boost their representation in the legislature which top 2 would have seriously threatened. Now is it a good and fair way of going about this? No. There’s far better and more fair ways to ensure minority representation. If this were a sane country we would look at a proportional representative model to accomplish this same goal. That way, we could have proper minority representation without the downsides of our current system. The majority could also elect their preferred representatives too without the major downsides of the top 2 system.

    @WalterZiobro

    Yeah I get what you’re saying. In fact, thinking about it you’re probably right. But it wasn’t the top 4 system that pushed it over the line, it was the promise to end “dark money” that I think helped barely push it over the line. That part was very very heavily advertised, along with ranked choice voting. The Top 4 primary, not as much. It will be interesting to see how it works out in practice. Though I suspect at the very least it will be amended by the legislature before it goes into effect.

  11. @Manaanwasgreat,

    I went through all the legislative districts held by Blacks, and can not see it happening. If you go to the Florida legislature web page and bring up the member rosters, click on a picture and besides the bio, there are demographics of the district. There just aren’t districts that fit the alleged profile. Do it for yourself, and see if you can point out any districts.

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