CHOICE VOTING MAKING EVERY VOTE COUNT

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CHOICE VOTING-MAKING EVERY VOTE COUNT

• by
• ZO TOBI
• Grassroots Organizer, FairVote
• zo_at_zotobi.com 603.305.3825
• -
• www.fairvote.org

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Purpose of Presentation

• Reaffirm the fundamental principles of democracy
  and compare to our current situation
• Invite you to join together in an investment in
  our collective future
• What will be proposed will not be easy
• What will be proposed is just a starting point

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What We Believe In

• Majority Rule Representation for All
• The right to rule belongs to the majority, while
  the right to representation belongs to all.

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We Have a Problem

• We have a deficit in democracy
• Candidates spend more while less people vote
• Nearly 90 of US House elections are
  uncompetitive1
• The US ranks 139th in global voter turnout2
• Not exactly the beacon of democracy wed like
  to imagine
• America has diversity in people but not in
  politics
• The rules are stacked against those offering
  other choices
• Most voters choose between only candidates they
  view as viable
• because they do not want to waste their vote
• 1 Basham, Patrick Dennis Polhill.
  Uncompetitive Elections and the American
  Political System. The Cato Institute. July 30,
  2005.
• 2 International Institute for Democracy
  Electoral Assistance. http//www.idea.int/vt/surv
  ey/voter_turnout_pop8.cfm

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The Problem Winner-Take-All

• Those with the most votes win, and everyone else
  loses
• More candidates fewer votes to win
• Theres no way to ensure majority rule or full
  representation
• Lesser of two evils vs. spoilers
• Bottom line Winner-take-all almost always
  narrows the political field of viable choices.

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The Problem Winner-Take-All
3 candidates run for 1 seat
9 candidates run for 3 seats
Worth 1,000 words
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Winner-Take-AllBad for Everyone

• Hurts voters, by forcing them to act
  strategically instead of just voting for who they
  believe in
• Hurts candidates, by forcing those with similar
  ideas to compete instead of work together
• Hurts democracy global studies show countries
  with winner-take-all voting have nearly 20 lower
  turnout than those with more representative
  systems.

SOURCE International Institute for Democracy
and Electoral Assistance http//www.idea.int/vt/su
rvey/voter_turnout8.cfm
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The Solution Ranked-Choice Voting

• A simple way to improve elections on any level.
• You get to rank the candidates in the order you
  like them - 1st, 2nd, 3rd choice and so on.
• If your top choice isn't elected, your vote can
  go to your next choice, instead of being wasted.

• You can vote for who you really believe in,
  without worrying about throwing your vote away.
• Candidates with the best ideas have a more fair
  chance of winning, regardless their fame or
  financing.

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Executive Legislative RacesWinner-Take-All
vs. Full Representation

• RCV can work in single- and multi-winner
  elections, but it will only truly level the
  electoral playing field in multi-winner elections
• Executive races
• Since only one person wins, these races will
  always be winner-take-all
• Single-winner RCV (usually called instant runoff
  voting) would protect majority rule
• But would still leave the two major parties with
  unfair advantage
• Legislative races
• Single-member districts make them
  winner-take-all
• RCV in multi-member districts (usually called
  choice voting) would ensure both majority rule
  and full representation
• Choice voting would truly give those with the
  best ideas a more fair chance
• The bottom line
• Executive elections ought to use instant runoff
  voting
• But to achieve a truly representative democracy,
  we need to adopt multi-member districts choice
  voting for all legislative elections.

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Executive ElectionsPlurality Minority Rule

• Plurality minority rule
• More candidates run, fewer votes to win
• A minority of voters can decide an election
• The spoiler problem
• Majority of voters liked some Blue shade, but
  the candidates split their support
• Voters discouraged
• Majority of voters saw least favorite candidate
  elected
• Maybe theyll think twice next time about voting
  for who they really believe in
• or maybe they just wont vote

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Executive ElectionsInstant Runoff Voting
Protects Majority Rule

• No matter how many candidates run, the winner
  needs a majority.
• (Makes sense two candidates couldnt pass that
  amount.)
• The top choices are counted, and any candidate
  with a majority wins.
• If no one has a majority, the candidate with the
  least votes is eliminated - just like a runoff
  election - and those voters' next choices are
  counted instead.
• This repeats one round at a time until the
  election is won.

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Executive ElectionsMinority Rule or Tyranny of
the Majority

• Plurality and majority rule both winner-take
  all
• Bottom line May make other voices more
  relevant, but will still keep two-candidate
  advantage in most cases

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Legislative ElectionsSingle-Member Districts
Winner-Take-All

• If a legislature is elected through single-member
  districts, the result is often a body that
  doesnt look like the voters who elected it.
• One group can win 100 of the representation if
  they just win every single-winner seat
• Gerrymandering makes it worse, but independent
  redistricting is not the answer.
• Subjects voters to no-choice elections
• Leaves voters without representation

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Legislative ElectionsJust Having Multi-Member
Districts Isnt Enough
Example 9 candidates run for 3 seats

• Most multi-winner elections solve redistricting
  problems, but are still winner-take-all
• Usually use block voting
• If there are 3 seats, each voter gets 3 votes
• The top three vote-getters win
• Problems
• Undervoting
• Voters dont want to hurt their favorite
  candidate by voting for others, so they dont use
  all their votes
• Some voters end up having more influence than
  others
• Minority rule
• More candidates run, fewer votes to win
• Like-minded candidates can get a minority of the
  votes, yet 100 of the seats
• The winners may represent a minority of the
  voters, and theres no way to ever know

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Legislative ElectionsJust Having Multi-Member
Districts Isnt Enough
Example 9 candidates run for 3 seats

• Or tyranny of the majority.
• The three winners may roughly represent the
  majority of voters preferences, but all minority
  viewpoints are now shut out.
• Bottom line
• Winner-take-all makes winners of some and losers
  of the rest
• Winner-take-all often forces most voters to
  support only the strongest candidates.

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Winner-Take-AllGambling with Democracy
Minority rule or tyranny of the majority Take
your pick!
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Legislative ElectionsChoice Voting Gives
Representation For All

• The amount to win stays the same no matter how
  many run
• Uses the same ranked ballot as single-winner
  races
• Full representation instead of winner-take-all
• Dont have to worry about fair redistricting,
  partisan or not

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Legislative ElectionsChoice Voting Gives
Representation For All

• Its easy to figure out the portion of the vote
  needed to win
• Amount to win 100 / (number of seats 1)
• Recall the single-winner race had a 50 threshold
• With 1 seat open, the threshold is 1/2, or 50 of
  the vote
• Multi-seat elections go by the same idea
• With 3 seats open, the threshold is 1/4, or 25
  of the vote
• Makes sense 4 or more candidates couldnt all
  pass 25.
• We figure out the portion of the vote needed to
  win, and count the top choices.
• If no one has enough to win, the candidate with
  the least votes is eliminated, and those voters'
  next choices are counted instead. This repeats
  one round at a time until the election is won.

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Legislative ElectionsChoice Voting Gives
Representation For All
Granny Smith gets 30 votes, but she only needs 20.
All 30 voters each have two thirds of their vote
stay with Granny Smith, and one third goes to
their next choice.
The voters next choices each get their portion,
and every voter has used exactly one full vote!

• If a candidate has more votes than she needs,
  each of her voters has an equal portion of their
  vote count for their next choice.
• The way we do it today, some votes count more
  than others.
• This protects the principle of one person, one
  vote.

15 voters chose Golden Delicious as their next
choice
Golden Delicious gets 5 more votes (15 next
choices at one third value)
Granny Smith has 30 votes 20 vote threshold
15 voters chose Macintosh as their next choice
Macintosh gets 5 more votes (15 next choices at
one third value)
Granny Smith ends up with 30 votes at 2/3 value,
or 20 votes exactly enough to win
Granny Smith ends up with 30 votes at 2/3 value,
or 20 votes exactly enough to win
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Legislative ElectionsChoice Voting Gives
Representation For All

• Voters in 3 districts each elect one candidate
  Three parties run, only one wins

Voters in one superdistrict elect three
candidates Three parties run, three win!
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History of Ranked-Choice Voting

• Used by several countries
• Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Malta
• Early 20th century two dozen US cities used
  choice voting
• but it was unfortunately electing too many women
  racial minorities.
• The political establishment led campaigns to
  repeal it
• which were successful everywhere except for
  Cambridge, MA, which has used it from 1941
  through today
• Year 2000 onward adoption in more and more US
  cities
• Ferndale MI, Burlington VT, San Francisco
  Berkeley CA
• Used by forty colleges and universities
• Harvard, Dartmouth, MIT, Princeton, UC Davis,
  Stanford

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Future of Ranked-Choice Voting?

• Depends on you
• We must change the game if we want the people to
  win
• Adopt instant runoff voting for all executive
  races
• More importantly Adopt multi-member districts
  and choice voting for all legislative races
• Change starts locally
• Change takes a small, dedicated group
• We cant afford to stay on the sidelines
• We need to make a collective investment in the
  future of ranked-choice voting.

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A Collective Investment in Victory

• Bring this presentation back to leadership
• Push for your group to endorse RCV
• Push for RCV as your groups priority
• Educate your groups membership
• Use www.FairVote.org as a resource
• Stay in contact with FairVote to learn about
  upcoming campaigns, or to start your own