In a democratic system for voting we should always be able to vote our “first choice” in an election. That ought to be how elections work. But some of us will have to vote, in this presidential election year “against” rather than “for” a president. That’s because the two contenders have very low acceptance ratings among a majority of voters.
Voting “against” is called “strategic” voting. Strategic voting most often doesn’t produce the expected outcome we wanted. If those words sound familiar, that’s because they are words that define Ranked Choice Voting, RCV. (RCV is initiative 5 on the ballot this year).
To put in perspective how important this initiative is, Bangor Daily News, BDN, will be running a sample ballot simulating the outcome of the 2010 and 2014 elections for Maine governor.
This will be an important simulation of how well RCV works if enough people join in. The simulation could conceivably be subverted by those who like the status quo that keeps their candidates in office. The outcome will only be accurate if a significant number of unbiased voters participate. So please join the BDN effort.
Here’s the link.
http://bangordailynews.com/2016/10/12/politics/help-the-bdn-test-how-ranked-choice-voting-might-have-worked-in-2010-and-2014/