Indivisible Canton: Vote ‘Yes’ on Question 2
By GuestDear Editor:
Massachusetts voters will have the opportunity to vote on ranked choice voting on the upcoming November ballot. Indivisible Canton is endorsing a Yes vote for Question 2, which would pass ranked choice voting for Massachusetts elections beginning in January 2022.
Ranked choice voting gives voters the option to rank their preferred candidates in order of preference: 1, 2, 3 and so on. They can also vote for just one candidate if they so choose. If one candidate receives a majority of the first-choice votes, that candidate is elected. However, if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and those votes count towards the next choice on each voter’s ballot. This process repeats until one candidate has a majority.
Ranked choice voting ensures that the winning candidate receives a majority of votes. In the recent 4th Congressional District primary to replace Joe Kennedy, Jake Auchinloss won the primary with only 22.4 percent of the vote. That means a majority of voters in the district voted for someone other than the winner.
Ranked choice voting is non-partisan. Models indicate that George H.W. Bush likely would have won the presidential election in 1992 when Independent Ross Perot won 18.9 percent of the popular vote. Models also indicate that Al Gore likely would have won the presidential election in 2000 when Ralph Nader received 97,421 votes in Florida. We daresay ranked choice voting might have made a difference in our recent contested local elections.
Ranked choice voting is good for democracy because it:
* Encourages more candidates to run without fear of vote splitting.
* Curbs negative campaigning, as it rewards candidates who find common ground with more voters who might rank them in the number 2 position.
* Gives voters more choices without fear of “wasting” a vote.
Ranked choice voting has been successfully used in Maine for U.S. Senate and U.S. House races, as well as state races in New York City and 21 other cities across the country for local races; and Alaska, Wyoming, Nevada, and Kansas for the 2020 primaries.
Indivisible’s mission is to encourage civic engagement to keep our democracy thriving and healthy. We can think of no better way to support this mission than to encourage citizens to vote by making sure their vote is counted.
Denise Falbo on behalf of Indivisible Canton
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=70225
Posted by Guest
on Oct 2 2020. Filed under From One Citizen to Another, Opinion.
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