On February 24, Indiana Governor Mike Braun signed SB 12, which prevents any local government from using ranked choice voting for elections for its own officers. No locality in Indiana currently uses RCV.
On February 24, Indiana Governor Mike Braun signed SB 12, which prevents any local government from using ranked choice voting for elections for its own officers. No locality in Indiana currently uses RCV.
Awesome! Every state needs this!
Braun has been disappointing, but this is redemption.
Why? What is so bad about Rankee Choice Voting? I see it as a good thing so long as it is not tied in with something like a Top 4 or Top 5 primary.
I’ve got mixed thoughts about this. I used to love ranked choice/IRV. But lately I don’t really think it’s necessary. I like the idea of having to decide on your one true choice. I wouldn’t mine seeing the possibility of a runoff, though. I’m not sure I want many people taking office with, like, 35% of the vote. Election laws need to be taken within a context which also includes considering the size of the constituency, the frequency of elections, the drawing of constituent borders, the fairness of finance and petitioning laws, etc. Some times it’s ok to get it over with and move on to the next election.
RCV elects communists. Kudos to Indiana for banning it.
@Andy,
Can you or other voters really rank a large number of candidates? Or what if you are not permitted to rank all candidates?
Now think of candidate strategy. Imagine you have three candidates:
Randy Rightwing
Mandy Moderate
Landon Leftist
Randy’s best strategy is to convince Mandy’s supporters that Landon is a crazy Marxist, and that Randy and Mandy are actually similar in viewpoint, perhaps emphasizing that in debate. But under RCV, Randy is better off with Mandy finishing 3rd and being eliminated. If Landon is eliminated, most of his support will transfer to Mandy. So Randy’s supporters have to go around suggesting that Mandy has character flaws.
In France, voters vote in person using paper ballots which are hand-counted. If a candidate receives a majority, they are elected. Otherwise there is a runoff one week later. Candidates who receive 12.5% or more of the vote advance to the runoff. Eliminated candidates may endorse one of the other candidates, which supporters are free to follow. Candidates may also withdraw to avoid splitting the vote in factional disputes.
For congressional elections, don’t permit majority election in the primary, but retain the 12.5% rule and permit write-ins in the general election.
We’ve been over this. Anything which makes voting and vote counting more complicated enables more fraud, and is therefore bad. Why ask a question repeatedly and ignore the answers?