John B. Hodges said: > Greetings- In the past few days I've noticed that the folks at > www.fairvote.org, the Center for Voting and Democracy, are not only > pushing IRV as a political reform here in the U.S., but also have begun > pushing for cumulative voting in 3-seat "superdistricts". > (Cumulative voting is where you have one vote per open seat, i.e. in > this proposal 3 votes, and you can allocate them among the candidates > however you wish; 2 for one and 1 for another, all 3 for one, or one > each for your favorite three candidates.)
I see both of these as improvements over the status quo. I believe Approval is better than IRV, but since Approval is untested it should only be recommended as an improvement over plurality in places where IRV is not gaining support. Clashing with IRV supporters in real-world campaigns (as opposed to debates among geeks like us who enjoy these topics) is a waste of time. Better that each side sticks to its own territory. I also see 3-seat cumulative voting as a positive step, even though I might see some methods as being better. As for whether the Dems would support these things: The Dems might support IRV for now, while the Green Party is nipping at their heels in close federal elections. But the Libertarians have done some damage to the GOP in close federal elections, and so the Dems also have something to lose here. I think they'll keep a poker face on the question of IRV. As for modest Proportional Representation efforts (e.g. 3-seat cumulative), here they might be more natural allies (for now). Ethnic minorities in the US tend to prefer the Dems to the GOP (statistically speaking, making due note of the many illustrious individuals of color who prefer the GOP). Modest PR efforts like 3-seat cumulative have been proposed as color-blind ways to achieve better minority representation. The Dems may support that, but only in places where they don't control the gerrymandering, um, I mean redistricting process. Alex ---- Election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
