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posted by takyon on Thursday November 07 2019, @04:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the people's-choice dept.

Ranked-choice voting adopted in New York City, along with other ballot measures

New York City will move to a system of ranked-choice voting, shaking up the way its elections are run after voters approved a ballot question to make the change.

The city will be by far the biggest place in the U.S. to put the new way of voting to the test, tripling the number of people around the country who use it.

A ballot question proposing the shift for New York primaries and special elections was approved Tuesday by a margin of nearly 3-1. It's now set to be in effect for New York's elections for mayor, City Council and other offices in 2021.

Under the system, voters will rank up to five candidates in order of preference, instead of casting a ballot for just one. If no candidate gets a majority of the vote, the last place candidate is eliminated and their votes are parceled out to the voter's second choice, a computerized process that continues until one candidate has a majority and is declared the winner.

Ranked-choice voting is now in use or approved in 18 other cities around the country, including San Francisco, Minneapolis and Cambridge. The state of Maine also uses it. Backers say the system discourages negative campaigning, and forces candidates to reach out to more voters rather than relying on a narrow base. It's also designed to allow voters to pick their true favorite, without worrying about throwing away a vote on someone who can't win.

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


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by shortscreen on Thursday November 07 2019, @07:49AM (10 children)

    by shortscreen (2252) on Thursday November 07 2019, @07:49AM (#917245) Journal

    It'll be interesting to see what results come out of it. In particular, the pundit class may have to come up with something different to talk about than the lesser-of-two-evils. Because people will be able to safely vote for four other candidates before they are "forced" to vote for the second-most-evil candidate to hedge against whichever one is the most evil.

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 07 2019, @08:33AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 07 2019, @08:33AM (#917254)

    Actually, you can still spoil it, see resistance to tactical voting and spoiler effect: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting#Resistance_to_tactical_voting [wikipedia.org] The good thing is that it is harder to game. The only common situation where you run into trouble is when you have a good candidate against a bad one and then the bad guys run scapegoats to siphon votes from the guy they like or you have many similar candidates that the one that would have been the overall or the Concorde winner gets eliminated early.

  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday November 07 2019, @09:05AM (5 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday November 07 2019, @09:05AM (#917259) Homepage
    The results are in:
        http://u.osu.edu/kogan.18/files/2014/12/ElectoralStudies-2fupfhd.pdf
    Check the reasons for exhaustion tables.

    TL;DR Conclusion:
    The US electorate is too stupid to understand how to use Instant Runoff Voting

    Yes, this can be solved with education. However, so can the problem of weak/reused passwords. And almost every other problem. But so far they haven't. What makes you think this one's any different?

    However, IRV/RCV strictly dominates FPTP, and so this is definitely progress in cases where an individual needs to be selected. (Selecting a parliament/congress/house/assembly/council/senate/... by parties is a different problem with different solutions.)
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday November 07 2019, @09:23AM (4 children)

      by MostCynical (2589) on Thursday November 07 2019, @09:23AM (#917261) Journal

      Or, voters are so distrustful of the whole political process, they just number randomly.
      (Is it better to be self-aware and cynical, or stupid/incompetent?)

      --
      "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday November 07 2019, @09:37AM (3 children)

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday November 07 2019, @09:37AM (#917265) Homepage
        I don't think the best way of saying "I know the system is almost everywhere flawed, but know enough about our system to know its better than what others have" is to spoil your ballot paper. That would put you straight back into the stupid/incompetent camp, IMHO.
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
        • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday November 07 2019, @09:47AM (2 children)

          by MostCynical (2589) on Thursday November 07 2019, @09:47AM (#917267) Journal

          People are stupid.
          I was trying to find a less negative option

          --
          "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
          • (Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Thursday November 07 2019, @02:10PM (1 child)

            by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday November 07 2019, @02:10PM (#917313) Homepage
            Have a beer! :-D
            --
            Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
            • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday November 07 2019, @10:06PM

              by MostCynical (2589) on Thursday November 07 2019, @10:06PM (#917551) Journal

              Yay! There is a third way!

              --
              "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Thursday November 07 2019, @09:44AM (2 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Thursday November 07 2019, @09:44AM (#917266) Homepage
    > safely vote for four other candidates before they are "forced" to vote for the second-most-evil candidate to hedge against whichever one is the most evil.

    I have nothing to add apart from wanting to see the concept of safely voting for four other candidates before being "forced" to vote for the second-most-evil candidate to hedge against whichever one is the most evil repeated. More people need to get the implications of that statement in their heads. Perhaps Duverger's law can be reversed, if third-party votes are no longer seen as wasted votes - there's nothing from the third party candidate creeping up on the Kodos or Kang that he/she was previously thought of as an alternative for, and eventually assuming dominance over same if credibility is maintained.
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves