28 Sep 20
In the U.S., there's a one-person-one-vote system, except for president, which uses an electoral college.
The link below discusses methods of voting, two of which I found interesting:
https://listverse.com/2016/02/10/10-alternatives-to-conventional-liberal-democracy/
Approval Voting:
In this voting scheme, voters can choose multiple candidates on a ballot rather than being forced to choose only one. In effect, the voter has a vote for each candidate in the form of a “yes” or a “no.” The candidate with the greatest number of approval votes is declared the winner. The remaining order of candidates reflects levels of societal preference for them.
Supposedly, this system gives voters more flexibility because people can vote for both their favorite candidate and the candidate most likely to win. That way, they don’t have to worry about wasting their vote on either option. If they don’t have strong feelings about any candidate, they can choose all the acceptable ones.
The system is geared toward producing the candidates who are most acceptable to the community overall. It would reduce the spoiler effect of a third candidate splitting the vote and allow an overall less popular candidate to win.
Negative campaigning should be reduced because it may be less useful and potentially more alienating. This system may cause greater voter turnout, and minority candidates should receive the votes that better reflect their support.
Paradoxically, approval voting has been shown to be of benefit to both minority and majority parties by more clearly showing their actual levels of support. It is also claimed that the system would be simple to implement, easily understood by voters, and require minimal changes to ballot systems already in existence.
Next, Range Voting:
Range voting (aka score voting) is similar to approval voting but somewhat more complicated.
Under this system, voters could score candidates according to a range of values, such as 0 to 9, or declare “no opinion.” The scores would be added to each candidate’s overall average. “No opinion” votes would have no effect. The candidate with the highest overall average score would be the winner.
Range voting is the system used to determine Olympic champions. It was used in ancient Spartan elections (though expressed and calculated through shouting).
There are a few advantages to using a range voting system. Voters can be more expressive and exact in their preferences. The system is biased toward centrist positions rather than extremist positions while promoting more democratic outcomes. One study even suggested that switching from current plurality voting methods to range voting could improve the outcome of elections as much as switching from a dictatorship to a democracy.
Some distrust this concept. For example, economist Nicolaus Tideman said, “I don’t like the idea of inviting people to carefully weight candidates and giving sophisticated people the ability to give greater power to their votes.”
28 Sep 20
We know who is a corrupt corporate tool.
https://www.foxandhoundsdaily.com/2020/01/why-gavin-newsom-was-wrong-in-vetoing-ranked-choice-voting-and-how-to-fix-it-part-1/
Maine has Ranked Choice voting. More states should follow. Those that veto it should be harshly condemned!