23 Jan 2019
Supporters
of rank balloting are either obvious to opposition or must love
rejection. The latest call for ranked balloting offers the usual
confection of nonsense to justify this hobby-horse of progressivism. (Hamilton Spectator of this date)
Aside: rank
balloting and proportional representation are two progressivist hobby-horses,
and are utterly at odds with each other. No matter. Both are simply
spaghetti against the wall attempts to screw up our electoral system.
Ranked
balloting is only interesting when the second or third place finisher vaults
over the highest vote-getter on election night and is declared the actual
winner. Such an event actually happened in the Second Congressional
District of Maine in the 2016 election. There were four candidates: one
Republican, one Democrat, and two independents. On election night, the
Republican won by a plurality of 2,000 votes, but was short of an overall
majority. The second preferences of the ballots were then used to
readjust the “vote count” and lo and behold if the second place Democrat wasn’t
declared the actual winner by 50.5 % to 49.5 %.
So
unpersuaded of the validity of those results was the governor of Maine, Paul
LePage, that he wrote “stolen election” on the certificate he had to sign
certifying the election. LePage tweeted that ranked balloting “didn’t
result in a true majority as promised – simply a plurality measured
differently.”
And therein
lies the fatal flaw of ranked balloting. It only produces a plurality
measured differently, not a majority as it promises. Ranked balloting is
inferior to the practice of holding run-off elections - and if valid majorities
are the highest goal, then cost is no object. Don’t argue the economy of
ranked balloting over run-off elections.
The system
we have of plurality election has an 800 years long history of producing
legitimate and accepted outcomes. Progresses can’t stand that and so come
up with ranked balloting and proportional representation just to mess things
up.
If we’re
smart and aware, we’ll reject this latest call to screw up an electoral system
that works.
-30-
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