Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by chromas on Wednesday June 13 2018, @04:31PM   Printer-friendly
from the [6]-a⠀[⠀]-b⠀[3]-c⠀[1]-d⠀[⠀]-e⠀[9]-f⠀[2]-g⠀[4]-h⠀[7]-i⠀[5]-j⠀[⠀]-k⠀[8]-l dept.

Maine Is Trying Out A New Way To Run Elections. But Will It Survive The Night?

The man who lives in the Blaine House in Augusta, Maine, was, for many, a sneak preview of the 45th president of the United States. Like Donald Trump, Republican Gov. Paul LePage has transformed the face of government with his politically incorrect brand of conservatism — and he did it despite winning less than a majority of votes. LePage won a seven-way Republican primary for governor in 2010 with 37 percent of the vote, and he beat a Democrat and three independents in the general with just 38 percent.

Eight years later, it's far from clear that LePage would have a path to victory if he were running now in the Republican primary for governor. That's because, partly in response to LePage's plurality wins, Maine on Tuesday will become the first state to use ranked-choice voting to decide a statewide election. So not only are there races in Maine we'll be watching, but the process matters too. And if Maine voters don't pass an initiative reauthorizing the voting method at the same time, this real-life political-science experiment will be cut short.

The question of keeping ranked-choice in place for future primaries and Congressional races in the general election led 54-46 percent with 57% of precincts reporting at 12:05 AM EDT.

Maine's Governor Paul LePage has threatened to not certify the results, but that doesn't matter according to Maine's Secretary of State:

Gov. LePage on Tuesday says he "probably" won't certify results from the voter-approved ranked-choice voting system.

Maine law requires the secretary of state to tabulate results and get them to the governor within 20 days of an election. The governor "shall" certify them within a reasonable time period, but Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, a Democrat, said this only applies to state general elections and not primaries. "He can bluster all he wants, but he can't change the results," Dunlap said.

Also at WGME, Vox, NYT (live results), and Portland Press Herald.

Previously: Maine Supreme Court Approves Ranked-Choice Voting for 2018 Elections


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by prospectacle on Thursday June 14 2018, @01:48AM

    by prospectacle (3422) on Thursday June 14 2018, @01:48AM (#692649) Journal

    1 - It's true that no voting system is perfect. The easiest way to understand this, imo, is this clear example of why you can't translate a set of individual preferences into one consistent social preference. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_of_irrelevant_alternatives#Criticism_of_IIA [wikipedia.org]

    2 - That not the same as saying all systems are equal. Some can be far worse than others.

    3 - It's natural to be wary of some new way of appointing people to power, and reflexively assume the current system is the best. This can lead to focusing only on the imperfections of a proposed replacement as if those imperfections immediately disqualify it.

    4 - It's worth at least considering the weaknesses of the current system if you're looking at the weaknesses of any proposed replacement. Why on earth would the current system just happen to be the best?

    5 - The flaws in any of the commonly used preferential-voting / ranked-choice voting systems (and the differences between them) are tiny when compared to the flaws in any system where you only count everyone's first preference. For starters, only counting first preferences will often elect someone who is actually the last-preference for a majority of voters. The least preferred candidate (for most voters) will often win. This doesn't require gaming the system it's built right in.

    6 - In order to argue about point (5) it's worth reiterating point (4). At least understand the various fairness criteria by which an election system can be judged, and examine the weaknesses of the current system as well as any proposed replacement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_electoral_systems#Comparisons [wikipedia.org] because there's way to much of (3) going on.

    --
    If a plan isn't flexible it isn't realistic
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +4  
       Insightful=1, Interesting=2, Informative=1, Total=4
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   5