Russian leader Vladimir Putin, speaking in his own country, recently criticized the U.S. electoral college. See this Washington Post story. The story quotes him as saying that twice, the person who got the most popular votes failed to take the office. Actually, that has happened four times, in 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On October 27, a state court in Massachusetts refused to require the sponsors of that evening’s gubernatorial debate to include Evan Falchuk, nominee of the United Independent Party. See this story. UPDATE: this story has much more detail about why the judge ruled as she did.
Two Maine state legislators are sponsoring an initiative petition for ranked-choice voting for gubernatorial elections. The petition drive will begin immediately after the November 4, 2014 election. See this story. The first line of the story describes the move as a “referendum”, but it is obviously an initiative. A referendum asks voters if they wish to retain or repeal a new law that had just passed a legislature.
The state that has come closest to using ranked-choice voting for state office is Vermont, but even though the legislature passed such a measure a few years ago, the Governor vetoed it. Vermont doesn’t have the initiative process. Thanks to Rob Richie and Thomas MacMillan for the link.
Peter Franklin, a British politics analyst, here foresees rapid change in the British political party system. Already, the Scottish National Party has made great gains in the last few months, as has the Green Party. Better known is the rapid rise of UKIP, and the decline of the Liberal Democratic Party. Franklin sees further changes ahead.
The consequences of these dramatic changes make it likely that Britain will do as New Zealand did some years ago, and switch to proportional representation, or at least think about it seriously. If that happens, Canada may follow.
Evan Falchuk, United Independent Party nominee for Massachusetts Governor, has a court hearing on Monday, October 27, over whether he should be in the gubernatorial debate being held that same evening. See this story.
