I’ve got this theory that our current “plurality” voting system makes many of us feel viscerally negative about the voting process and is actually contributing to the division and angst many people are feeling in the US these days. I recently made a short presentation on this at Synapse Synopsis, which should be available to watch soon if you’re interested. And I hope to expand on those thoughts more here over time.
My belief and hope is that moving toward alternatives that are more expressive will actually make us feel better, about voting, and perhaps about the entire political process. Of course it won’t fix everything, and having 3rd parties become a more viable option could even have serious downsides like the rise of an actual Nazi party (I’d rather them identify themselves in their own party than be hidden in a larger one though). But I do believe it would be a net good. Implementation of various alternative systems, notably Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), is slowly occurring across the US, and there are some promising results, but it is also marred at times by poor education and lack of outreach to explain the change and how to use the new systems.
More to come…