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posted by martyb on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:34AM   Printer-friendly
from the democracy dept.

Common Dreams reports

Election reform advocates on [April 18] praised a decision by Maine's Supreme Court, upholding the use of ranked-choice voting for the state's upcoming primary elections, saying the ruling demonstrated that the court heeded the demands of Maine voters.

[...]Unlike in traditional voting, in which the candidate with the largest share of votes wins--even if he or she is far from capturing a majority of the support--in ranked choice voting, voters rank each candidate in order of preference. If no candidate has a majority after the first count, the least-popular contender is eliminated, voters' ballots are added to the totals of their second-ranked candidates, and the ballots are recounted. The eliminations and recounts continue until one candidate has a majority.

Supporters of the system say it increases voter turnout and proportional representation.

Maine's June 12 multi-party primary elections, in which voters will choose candidates for governor and congressional districts, will now make history as the first state election to use ranked-choice voting.

Fifty-two percent of Maine voters supported the system in a November 2016 ballot initiative, but lawmakers passed a bill last year delaying its implementation until December 2021 and argued that the state could not use a new voting system without direction from the legislature. The state Senate also threatened to repeal ranked-choice voting altogether if it could not pass a constitutional amendment by then.

More than 77,000 Maine residents signed a petition saying any repeal of the system by the legislature should be voided.

"The Maine legislature has changed or repealed all four of the initiatives passed by Maine voters in 2016", said Kyle Bailey of the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting in a statement on Tuesday. "Today's decision by the Maine Supreme Court confirms that the Maine people are sovereign and have the final say."

The Portland Press Herald, Maine's largest circulation daily newspaper, has extensive background details in their April 17th story: Ranked-choice voting will be used for June primaries, Maine supreme court rules.


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:20AM (22 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:20AM (#669009) Homepage Journal

    I don't really care how they do the math in their voting (I don't live in or plan to live in Maine) as long as everybody gets to vote and their vote is worth the same as anyone else's. Good on the courts for upholding Joe Schmoe's rights over the interests of the major parties though.

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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:40AM (15 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:40AM (#669014) Journal

    Now people can vote for a third party candidate without "throwing away their vote". That removes a barrier to entry and gives candidates from outside the political mainstream a fighting chance. It's no wonder that the Maine Legislature wanted to kick the can... into a black hole. With a clean house, maybe voters will see their other ballot measures [ballotpedia.org] implemented in the future.

    With this victory, we may see ranked choice and similar voting methods spread to other states.

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    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:51AM (13 children)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:51AM (#669020) Homepage Journal

      Yes, but I am not now nor am I likely to be in the future in the subset of "people in Maine". Nor do I expect what folks in Maine do to have any effect on the folks in Tennessee. The cultures aren't very similar except for both being known for enjoying fishing. Which is to say, good on em but I don't expect it to matter to my life.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:57AM (12 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday April 19 2018, @11:57AM (#669024) Journal

        You have the power to propose, write, and collect signatures for a similar ballot measure in Tennessee.

        Just kidding, your state is fucked [ballotpedia.org].

        Tennessee ballot measures come in only one variety:

        legislatively referred constitutional amendment - A constitutional amendment that appears on a state's ballot as a ballot measure because the state legislature in that state voted to put it before the voters.

        Tennessee is one of the 24 states that do not have initiative and referendum.

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        [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
        • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 19 2018, @12:16PM (11 children)

          by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday April 19 2018, @12:16PM (#669035) Homepage Journal

          I'm okay with that. We have lots of guns here if they annoy us too badly.

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.
          • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:06PM (8 children)

            by Thexalon (636) on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:06PM (#669145)

            I agree that's definitely a cultural difference: In New England, the way of dealing with political problems is to use the structures of government to address them and force the government to adhere to the people's wishes. In Tennessee, the way of dealing with political problems is apparently to shoot somebody.

            I'm also not convinced by your theory: Say, for instance, that the governor does something you don't like. So you shoot and kill him. The cops and FBI and any of that governor's supporters, in turn, shoot and kill you (or alternately arrest you, try you, and fry you). The governor is replaced by another governor from the Republicrat Party, who then proceeds to continue implementing the policy you didn't like. So not only are you dead, but you didn't even achieve your goal in assassinating the governor in the first place.

            --
            The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
            • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:22PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @05:22PM (#669168)

              TMB uses lame rhetoric to cover his responsibility as a citizen. Lazy.

            • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:23PM

              by bob_super (1357) on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:23PM (#669207)

              > the way of dealing with political problems is apparently to shoot somebody.

              Nope. They are good God-fearing citizens.
              They polish their guns dreaming that one day, maybe soon now, they will be called upon to heroically rise against government oppression, and get to shoot somebody.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:55PM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:55PM (#669229)

              you assume assassinating the twat isn't almost equally about sending a message to all his buddies

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:52PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @10:52PM (#669378)

                >you assume assassinating the twat isn't almost equally about sending a message to all his buddies

                Signed,
                Astonishingly Tolerant Gun-Hating Liberal

            • (Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday April 19 2018, @07:03PM (3 children)

              by Sulla (5173) on Thursday April 19 2018, @07:03PM (#669232) Journal

              So how many freedom fighters would have to die before they got the picture?

              The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

                  Thomas Jefferson

              --
              Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
              • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @08:20PM (2 children)

                by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @08:20PM (#669273)

                I don't know, you tell me. The government is conducting unconstitutional mass surveillance on the populace, waging a war on drugs, waging several unconstitutional and unjust wars overseas, hiring thugs to violate people's rights at airports, and so on. Where are all these freedom fighters with guns? Why do they sit back and do nothing except spew empty rhetoric about revolution?

                • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday April 19 2018, @09:20PM

                  by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday April 19 2018, @09:20PM (#669321) Journal

                  They're waiting for the 2nd Amendment to be repealed. Lol.

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                • (Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Friday April 20 2018, @01:21PM

                  by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 20 2018, @01:21PM (#669624) Journal

                  "Why do they sit back and do nothing"

                  So your argument is that law abiding gun owners aren't out killing people they don't agree with politically, so they should lose their guns?

                  --
                  В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @08:15PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 19 2018, @08:15PM (#669271)

            Cool. Go shoot some TSA thugs, then.

          • (Score: 3, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday April 19 2018, @08:47PM

            by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday April 19 2018, @08:47PM (#669290) Journal

            So get to shootin', big-beak. Or are you just flapping your carrion-sieve?

            --
            I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Gaaark on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:09PM

      by Gaaark (41) on Thursday April 19 2018, @04:09PM (#669146) Journal

      Electoral reform was one of the things Trudeau promised up here in Canada (electoral reform and cannabis legalization: guess which one passed. I guess he hated doing illegal things....)

      We need this up in Canada: too many people vote for A or B when they really want to vote for C but don't want to 'waste' that vote. (For the Ontario elections, your choices are a woman everyone hates or 'Trump'... not much of a choice if you don't want to 'waste' the vote.)
      With this, the Green party would have a real chance both provincially and federally, AND it would get more young voters out.

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday April 19 2018, @12:00PM (2 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday April 19 2018, @12:00PM (#669026) Homepage
    With the current system, gerrymandering makes some people's, some families', some districts', votes worth nothing. This is a solid forward step towards introducing democracy to at least a small part of America, if it's taken.

    Indidentally, I analysed the results of the US 2016 election were each state's electors to faithfully represent their state's voters proportionally. Here's the outcome it prints:

        Total: [269, 265, 2, 1, 1]

    The 3 outliers who are pretending that Duverger's Law doesn't exist are:
        Ca: [35, 18, 1, 1, 0]
        Tx: [17, 20, 1, 0, 0]
        Ut: [2, 3, 0, 0, 1]
    From that, you should be able to work out what party's which.
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday April 19 2018, @12:18PM (1 child)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday April 19 2018, @12:18PM (#669036) Homepage Journal

      Did they do anything about gerrymandering? I didn't see that bit.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday April 19 2018, @07:57PM

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday April 19 2018, @07:57PM (#669258) Homepage
        If everything is summed in the whole state, then borders are irrelevant, so gerrymandering cannot be done.

        I view many, if not most, of the failings of democracy to be rounding errors. Summing smaller regions, deciding individual regions representation, and then summing those regions to decide the eventual winner introduces 2 rounding errors. If the individual districts (as in the thing Nebraska has 3 of) have their own proportional representation, then district-level gerrymandering will become impossible, but district-level gerrymandering is still possible. If the whole state is summed, then only state border gerrymandering is possible, and fortunately those borders are somewhat fixed now, so that's not a problem.

        My data was assuming the whole state was summed as one entity.
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Wootery on Thursday April 19 2018, @12:29PM

    by Wootery (2341) on Thursday April 19 2018, @12:29PM (#669040)

    I don't really care how they do the math in their voting (I don't live in or plan to live in Maine) as long as everybody gets to vote and their vote is worth the same as anyone else's.

    Then you don't understand the significance of voting systems. The fact the USA has a two-party system is due to its voting system.

  • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:04PM (1 child)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:04PM (#669192) Journal

    as long as everybody gets to vote and their vote is worth the same as anyone else's.*

    *Offer does not apply to the Electoral College.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:30PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Thursday April 19 2018, @06:30PM (#669211)

      Contribute with your corporate credit card in the next 20 minutes, and we'll throw, not one, not two, but three extra electoral votes for free!
      That's four electoral votes for 6 easy payments of $59999.99 plus shipping and lobbying! Don't wait! Call now!