this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2024
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Replacing First Past The Post voting with a more representative electoral system such as Ranked Choice voting would allow more then 2 political parties to be viable with no spoiler effect.
This would increase engagement as more people would be represented by the extra parties. This would increase voter turnout and... going off of your own post... would increase the number of voters for the democratic party.
More democracy, more representation in government, more democratic voters. A win win win for the people of the USA and the DNC.
Since the electoral system is managed at the state level, one must wonder why the democrats haven't implemented this easy win mode in the states they control. It's clear democrats understand the faults of First Past The Post voting. Just talk to any one of them about voting third party and they will go on and on about how its a wasted vote. Well if you understand the flaws of the voting system so well, why haven't you done anything to fix the problem? For longer then I've been alive...
How would the republicans prevent this reform if they don't control these blue states? Who is standing in the way of electoral reform in these democratic strong holds?
If you believe the Republicans are an existential threat, you should be on board with using every tool available to prevent that right? That means passing electoral reform in your state ASAP. We should be asking our representatives why they aren't using every tool at their disposal to defeat the republicans.
Because political parties are more concerned about donations and influence than democracy. Destroying the two party system would see their monopoly of influence slowly dwindle away
They don't see Republicans as an existential threat, they see the Republicans as a canary in a coal mine. The Republicans act as a gauge to see exactly how low their own constituents will allow them to sink before they get in trouble. So long as Democrats can look good by comparison, they will continue to serve their donors and themselves over the needs of the people.
As a result, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party would oppose getting rid of First Past the Post because it gives them an advantage in elections. So, in order to get rid of First Past the Post, you would need to first elect a third party. Unfortunately, because of First Past the Post, you're not going to be able to elect a third party.
Testing different voting methods: https://electionscience.github.io/vse-sim/VSEbasic
STAR voting seems to be the latest and greatest.
People in Oregon tried to get it on the ballot, but failed to get enough signatures from voters... 😭
https://ballotpedia.org/Oregon_STAR_Voting_Initiative_(2024)