Bill would change Maine's voting system to 'instant runoff'

[MaineDem]

AUGUSTA — Chris Hourcle voted for Ralph Nader for president in 2000, but didn't even look at his platform last fall. The Bar Harbor resident instead picked a candidate who had a chance to win - not one he believed in. "I decided I couldn't risk it," Hourcle said.

Two Portland lawmakers are pushing for a new law to take that risk out of voting. State House Majority Leader Glenn Cummings, D-Portland, and Sen. Ethan Strimling, D-Portland, want the state to use a so-called instant runoff system.

Under it, a candidate's electability would no longer be a factor. Voters instead would get to rank their choices for president, governor and legislative seats on their ballots. Those preferences would help to determine the winner if no candidate got a majority of the votes.

"There is no place in Maine for an unfair system that leaves people feeling their vote does not matter," Cummings told the Legislature's Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee during a public hearing Monday.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/050201voting.shtml

[mahina]

1. Instant runoff makes perfect sense to me.

How do you like your campaign finance reform bill? The bill we are working to get passed this year here in Hawaii is modeled after yours, and Maine is pointed to as a success story. Do you like it? (sure hope so...)
cleanelectionshawaii.org

[MaineDem]

7. I like it

"Clean Elections" make it possible for the not-wealthy candidates to run, for one thing. It allows people who aren't the best fundraisers to enter the race. It levels the playing field for candidates.

It requires a bit more paperwork for the candidates. As long as the funding is still there (our Legislature "borrowed" from the fund a while back and now they need to reimburse us) it seems to be working well.

Good luck with your efforts. Maybe we should send some people to Hawaii to "consult" with you. I volunteer! (It was -7 here this morning.) :D

[mdhunter]

2. Fantastic

IRV is one of the best voting systems available.

While it's encouraging to hear it being discussed - let's skip the middleman, the states piecemeal adoption of new voting systems - and mandate it federally in part of a total electoral reform bill.

[liveoaktx]

3. Yes! The US used to be a multi-party system that avoided *spoiler*

voting. According to the author of a book about this, it was changed in most places because the Republicans lost more often in a run-off to Democrat or Populist parties.

[beyurslf]

10. When was this? We have very small periods of time with more than 2

parties...and they were over a century ago.

[w4rma]

4. Cool. (nt)

[HootieMcBoob]

5. We need this everywhere

It won't be popular with either Republicans or Democrats but it's good for democracy and it's good for the citizens of the country. We should make this a big issue in every state.

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. Wonderful. I have long supported this. We need a pilot program

It has to move off of the drawing boards and into reality. I think it is being done at some isolated local levels but a State Wide model to point to would be most excellent. Hopefully Main will take the lead, if not I hope some activists in other states have this idea on their agenda. I live in New York which I suspect would be a pretty tough nut to crack due to its size and entrenched interests. One of the smaller states will probably have to take the lead.

[meganmonkey]

8. Lucky!

Hopefully other states will learn from it...

[Aries]

9. Let's hope it passes

and that Gov. Baldacci doesn't veto it if it does.

This is a great opportunity to get the debate going, anyway.

[paineinthearse]

11. Does Maine have one only area code?

Staff Writer Mark Peters can be contacted at 623-1031 or at: [e-mail]

If so, perhaps the Press Herald would share it with its global readers.... :think:

ayyyyyy-up

[MaineDem]

12. Yep

It's 207

[Davis_X_Machina]

13. If enacted a decade ago...

...Angus King would never have been elected governor, and Susan Collins would never have been elected Senator. Both elections would have gone Democratic.

[Idioteque]

14. No to IRV. Yes to Condorcet!!!

I used to support IRV, but I after comparing it to Condorcet, Condorcet seems much much better.

The problem with instant runoff voting is that although it prevents spoilers when the third parties are small, when they get bigger it creates the need for even MORE tactical voting.

What is wrong with IRV?

I would reccommend visiting . It's really informative and It presents a pretty good case for Condorcet.

[Maine-ah]

15. kick n/t