Alaskans approve ballot measure to move to ranked choice voting.

[crimson5pheonix]

Alaska becomes second state to approve ranked-choice voting as Ballot Measure 2 passes by 1%

The measure contains a sweeping reform of the state’s system for picking politicians.

www.adn.com

Starting in 2022 races in Alaska will take the top 4 winners, no matter the party or even if they don't have a party, and put them on the general ballot where voters can rank their choices, votes getting distributed until a majority is chosen.

Direct democracy wins again.

 

[Secondhand Revenant]

Oooh I wanna see how this turns out and if it then spreads to other states. Having one within the country do this as an example might spark more is my hope

 

[crimson5pheonix]

Oooh I wanna see how this turns out and if it then spreads to other states. Having one within the country do this as an example might spark more is my hope

According to the link they're the second after Maine, but hard agree overall.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Alaska becomes second state to approve ranked-choice voting as Ballot Measure 2 passes by 1%

The measure contains a sweeping reform of the state’s system for picking politicians.

www.adn.com

Starting in 2022 races in Alaska will take the top 4 winners, no matter the party or even if they don't have a party, and put them on the general ballot where voters can rank their choices, votes getting distributed until a majority is chosen.

Direct democracy wins again.

Very interesting. I look forward to seeing how this goes.

 

[Asita]

Well that's lovely. I'm not sure where it ranks in terms of voting systems overall, but it's a far cry better than first past the post.

 

[Cheetodust]

Alaska becomes second state to approve ranked-choice voting as Ballot Measure 2 passes by 1%

The measure contains a sweeping reform of the state’s system for picking politicians.

www.adn.com

Starting in 2022 races in Alaska will take the top 4 winners, no matter the party or even if they don't have a party, and put them on the general ballot where voters can rank their choices, votes getting distributed until a majority is chosen.

Direct democracy wins again.

Don't get too excited. We have preferential voting here... It does not even look like direct democracy if you squint and have brain damage.

 

[Revnak]

Well that's lovely. I'm not sure where it ranks in terms of voting systems overall, but it's a far cry better than first past the post.

I think there’s some mathematical analysis that argues approval voting should make people feel more satisfied with the results, but produces largely identical results.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

Don't get too excited. We have preferential voting here... It does not even look like direct democracy if you squint and have brain damage.

It isn't direct democracy, but the result was achieved through direct democracy.

 

[Silvanus]

I'm a huge supporter of ranked-preference systems. It's the best chance we have of allowing people to vote for their actual preferred candidate, rather than submitting to the 'least-bad' mainstream candidate, and simultaneously making sure that votes don't go to waste.

Direct democracy wins again.

I'm generally not a fan of direct democracy. It'd lead to the most short-sighted, jingoistic, illiterate policy-making imaginable. Generally people don't know what the fuck is going on, and have little interest in finding out.

It won in this case. But direct democracy is one of the reasons we still have FPTP here in the UK. People were given the option to change, in a referendum, and stumped to carry on the ruinous status quo.

 

[Asita]

I think there’s some mathematical analysis that argues approval voting should make people feel more satisfied with the results, but produces largely identical results.

I obviously can't meaningfully weigh in on that without knowing more details, but I'm a bit skeptical of that. At minimum ranked voting should downplay the spoiler effect enough to at least open up the field a bit. Whether or not a third party could win in the near future is another question entirely, but if someone can feel confident in voting for their favored candidate without worrying that they're effectively voting against their preferred frontrunner? I count that as an improvement.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

I'm a huge supporter of ranked-preference systems. It's the best chance we have of allowing people to vote for their actual preferred candidate, rather than submitting to the 'least-bad' mainstream candidate, and simultaneously making sure that votes don't go to waste.



I'm generally not a fan of direct democracy. It'd lead to the most short-sighted, jingoistic, illiterate policy-making imaginable. Generally people don't know what the fuck is going on, and have little interest in finding out.

It won in this case. But direct democracy is one of the reasons we still have FPTP here in the UK. People were given the option to change, in a referendum, and stumped to carry on the ruinous status quo.

Here in the states it's done well. This election in particular has had more progressive policies passed by ballot measure than I can name either party passing in the last decade.

 

[SilentPony]

Pfft, Alaska isn't real. Its just a story we tell Canadians to scare them into staying within 50 miles of the border.

 

[Revnak]

I obviously can't meaningfully weigh in on that without knowing more details, but I'm a bit skeptical of that. At minimum ranked voting should downplay the spoiler effect enough to at least open up the field a bit. Whether or not a third party could win in the near future is another question entirely, but if someone can feel confident in voting for their favored candidate without worrying that they're effectively voting against their preferred frontrunner? I count that as an improvement.

Oh, it’s massively better than ftp, it’s just that ranked choice somehow causes issues that approval doesn’t, which are both dramatically better than ftp.

 

[Asita]

Oh, it’s massively better than ftp, it’s just that ranked choice somehow causes issues that approval doesn’t, which are both dramatically better than ftp.

Ah, my bad. I didn't understand "approval" to be another voting method, and as consequence I misread you as suggesting that ranked amounted to a placebo rather than saying Approval Voting > Ranked Voting > First Past the Post.

 

[Revnak]

Ah, my bad. I didn't understand "approval" to be another voting method, and as consequence I misread you as suggesting that ranked amounted to a placebo rather than saying Approval Voting > Ranked Voting > First Past the Post.

Yeah, though I’d hesitate to put approval much over ranked choice. I think the argument for it is that it’s simpler and that it convinces you to be happier when your favorite doesn’t win and the centrist does instead, though there’s some weird scenarios where ranked choice re-introduces spoilers that approval can’t.