Recently I have been asked by some people in the community my thoughts and maybe some help in getting ranked choice voting in Sioux Falls. I am opposed to it, but would love to be a part of the conversation.
It’s not that I don’t understand how it works, it’s not as complicated as it may sound.
My opposition is that when I vote for a candidate, that is the candidate I chose. Not only do I rarely have a 2nd and 3rd choice, I sometimes don’t even have a number one choice. I have often left that portion of the ballot blank. A few years ago in a school board election as soon as the ballot was handed to me, I threw it in the box without marking any candidates.
I guess I struggle with electing people based on being ‘second best’. We should only be voting for the people we feel is most qualified, and as a community we should actively be finding ways to recruit the best candidates.
It’s not that we have a problem with the election process in Sioux Falls, we have problem with finding effective leaders to run.
“My opposition is that when I vote for a candidate, that is the candidate I chose. Not only do I rarely have a 2nd and 3rd choice, I sometimes don’t even have a number one choice.”
Boy, ain’t that the truth. I voted for Susan in ’14, but left the gubernatorial ballots in ’10 and ’18 empty. In fact, I left the congressional ballot empty in ’18, too. When Democrats want to start being Democrats again, let me know. You can probably find me on the bike trail.
You are not required to make multiple choices or to vote on every race or measure on any ballot for it to still be considered a valid ballot and reflection of your will. For example, in the SD House races where there is the option to choose 2 candidates, you don’t have to vote for two. You can simply vote for one and that single vote still counts. Why oppose giving other people who want to have more “say-so” on who represents them, from having it?
Because I don’t believe picking people for office is a chili cook-off competition.
If you are a good Republican or Democrat, then why would you have more than one vote, or two in a state house race?
Fresh from 3 Straight Nights (4 days) of Camping @ Garretson, and sometimes I wish I had an extra day to camp, but life beckons…I come back, and I find a topic Scott and I agree on 100%.
I am steadfast against Rank Choice Voting. You simply need to nominate and place many, many, and many people on that “Public Ballot”.
Whether it is Governor, Mayor, State Legislator, City Council, President, whatever – each “district” needs no less than 10 candidates to choose from. As per the City COuncil – you need 10 per district, and for President, you need to have 50 Candidates (1 per state) to choose from. THe person who gets the most votes wins, or in the case for President -who wins the “most” of the 435 House Districts so long as its 270 more, otherwise it falls to the State Legislatures who get 1 vote each.
I think the MAYOR could be the same way, “WE” vote for the City COuncilors, while we allow the City COuncil to nominate candidates, while ‘we’ vote per district, with the winner being the one who takes 5 of the 8 districts.
Basically put – ANYTHING BUT “RANK CHOICE”
Remember – The Vice President was always the Runner Up in the Presidential Election, that meant, AMERICANS got their top two choices to operate the Federal Govt. yes, that would mean ‘we’ get a Biden and Trump White House …
I think a Trump/Hillary White House would have been more fun. It’s reported that Hillary once threw an expensive and historic White House vase at Bill during the Lewinsky scandal. #JustSaying
Spend any time analyzing election theory and you’ll discover that “winner takes all” (which blessed us with Guv Mike Rounds and many other candidates approved by only 30% of voters) often results in winners that are LAST choices for the majority of voters that chose losing candidates. In the 2002 Guv’s Primary, Rounds picked up a little over 40% of the vote. MOST Republicans voted for someone else. Under RCV, we likely would have ended up with a Governor that actually DID something. Over eight long, boring years.