Ranked-choice voting strengthens democracy

The May 2019 interview on “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” series promotes an increasingly popular electoral reform.

Everybody knows that our nation’s electoral system is broken.  The problems prevent us from having an honest, vibrant democracy.   The May 2019 interview on “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” focuses on an exciting, practical remedy for one problem – Ranked-Choice Voting.

Our current voting method frustrates people who would like to vote for the candidate they really want, but they are afraid of “wasting their vote” or the “spoiler” effect. In this situation, voters split between two decent candidates which allows a really bad candidate to win with less than half of the vote.  People feel frustrated when they are afraid to vote for the candidate they really want and feel forced to vote for a less desirable candidate who was “electable,” or for “the lesser of two evils.”

Ranked-Choice Voting would solve this problem.  It would eliminate primary elections and instead  let voters rank the candidates in order of preference in an election.  If your first-choice candidate does not win, the votes of people who ranked that candidate first would be transferred to that voter’s second choice.  The process might need to repeat again and perhaps again until one candidate ends up with a majority of votes.

Two guests explain clearly how Ranked-Choice Voting works and how it can strengthen democracy:

• Lisa Ayrault is a very active volunteer with FairVote Washington. where she is the organization’s chair performing the duties of an Executive Director.
• Michael Martin is FairVote Washington’s Legislative Director, working with the State Legislature to bring Ranked Choice Voting to Washington State.  Also, Michael is a leader in the Clark County group – one of a growing number of chapters of FairVote Washington.

Throughout the nation, more people—and more local and state governments—are reforming elections in this way.

Everyone everywhere can watch this interview, read a summary or get a  list of links for further information through Glen’s blog, www.parallaxperspectives.org. Cable TV subscribers in Thurston County can watch on Thurston Community Television (TCTV) every Monday at 1:30 pm, every Wednesday at 5:00 pm, and every Thursday at 9:00 pm. The program and summary are posted to the blog.

Each program and thorough summary are also posted to the blog’s “TV Programs” category and to a topic category. Questions?  Contact Glen Anderson, the series’ producer/host at (360) 491-9093 glenanderson@integra.net.