The democrats have definitely decreased in favorability in my eyes. I follow @motaz_azaiza and watched as Gaza was bombed and innocent people were killed, and so many democrats refused to hold isreal accountable for the horrors they were committing. That to me was the end of my support for the party, because if they don't care about a li…
The democrats have definitely decreased in favorability in my eyes. I follow @motaz_azaiza and watched as Gaza was bombed and innocent people were killed, and so many democrats refused to hold isreal accountable for the horrors they were committing. That to me was the end of my support for the party, because if they don't care about a literal genocide happening, they have no moral highground anymore. I'm hoping now that ranked choice voting catches on in more locations, more independents can start having a shot at winning elections, and that that will improve the quality of candidates all around.
Casey, just to prove how hopeful ranked choice voting is, my Supermajority R state legislature put it on the ballot with misleading ballot language and it’s now in my state constitution that we cannot have it. That’s how promising it is! The R’s know it, and they’re denying us access.
Are you on South Dakota? I was so angry about it. I tried to explain it to coworkers and the math was too much for them. They of course wanted the status quo.
Debra, no, MO. Was it really too complicated for them, or are their minds closed to anything new/different/not supported by their preferred party?
It’s really sad when people give up their future choices for those reasons.
In MO, we gave up the opportunity to ever have that choice, and locked ourselves into the current voting method.
Ranked choice voting was not on the ballot, we weren’t voting for it or against it, we were voting to ever have the opportunity to change to anything else in the future.
The worst part is the ballot language started with “ballot candy” (aka lie), which is legal here in MO. It said, “Do you want to prevent non-citizens from voting?” Which, of course, is already illegal! And is, also, not happening in MO!
So, the lies of our MO legislature, and the stupidity of MO voters have now enshrined into our state constitution the inability to ever put the option of ranked choice voting on a MO ballot and let the citizens choose something different.
PS thank you for trying to educate people. I tried, too. I will continue, and I hope you do, too.
The problem is most Americans do not want to spend the time on voting. They want it to be fast and easy, and I don't know that we have the civic commitment to try ranked choice voting. It's disappointing, but people won't even watch videos more than 30 seconds long. It's perceived as too complicated, even though it would be so much better!
I wish ranked choice voting would catch on , but after seeing it get rejected here in Oregon, my hope for it has diminished. Like, if we can’t get it in one of the most liberal states in the nation, I don’t see it happening in many other places.
My sense is that it worked here in Maine because we already have a long, long history of multiparty races, generally moderate candidates regardless of party affiliation, and no solid seat of control for either party (our biggest divide is between the North/South of the state and their respective US House Districts: Southern Maine reliably goes D while Northern Maine usually goes R, or a very center-left D as they have now). With that history in mind, several years ago we managed to elect an extremely divisive governor to two terms with under 40% of the vote each time, and I think for a lot of folks that was the final straw that pushed them to support RCV. It reflected our general attitude toward elections already.
[The Maine GOP hates RCV and is trying to get it repealed, but with little support. They don't have any basis for arguing that they have been or are being disenfranchised in elections, but that's certainly the angle they're pushing. It's transparently power-seeking in a way that thankfully hasn't gotten too much traction yet.]
Yeah… I wish folks here were doing something like that with their frustrations. Instead, eastern Oregon is trying to “join” Idaho. 🙃 doesn’t exactly communicate their awareness of what’s realistic.
It’s definitely an education issue but also folks see it as being too complicated and want something that feels more simple, like a simple majority win/loss.
I think this is the problem. There is information available but voters are not seeking it. They just see a change to voting and feel fear. I hope more high profile people will talk about it. Get interest going.
The democrats have definitely decreased in favorability in my eyes. I follow @motaz_azaiza and watched as Gaza was bombed and innocent people were killed, and so many democrats refused to hold isreal accountable for the horrors they were committing. That to me was the end of my support for the party, because if they don't care about a literal genocide happening, they have no moral highground anymore. I'm hoping now that ranked choice voting catches on in more locations, more independents can start having a shot at winning elections, and that that will improve the quality of candidates all around.
Casey, just to prove how hopeful ranked choice voting is, my Supermajority R state legislature put it on the ballot with misleading ballot language and it’s now in my state constitution that we cannot have it. That’s how promising it is! The R’s know it, and they’re denying us access.
Are you on South Dakota? I was so angry about it. I tried to explain it to coworkers and the math was too much for them. They of course wanted the status quo.
Debra, no, MO. Was it really too complicated for them, or are their minds closed to anything new/different/not supported by their preferred party?
It’s really sad when people give up their future choices for those reasons.
In MO, we gave up the opportunity to ever have that choice, and locked ourselves into the current voting method.
Ranked choice voting was not on the ballot, we weren’t voting for it or against it, we were voting to ever have the opportunity to change to anything else in the future.
The worst part is the ballot language started with “ballot candy” (aka lie), which is legal here in MO. It said, “Do you want to prevent non-citizens from voting?” Which, of course, is already illegal! And is, also, not happening in MO!
So, the lies of our MO legislature, and the stupidity of MO voters have now enshrined into our state constitution the inability to ever put the option of ranked choice voting on a MO ballot and let the citizens choose something different.
PS thank you for trying to educate people. I tried, too. I will continue, and I hope you do, too.
The problem is most Americans do not want to spend the time on voting. They want it to be fast and easy, and I don't know that we have the civic commitment to try ranked choice voting. It's disappointing, but people won't even watch videos more than 30 seconds long. It's perceived as too complicated, even though it would be so much better!
I wish ranked choice voting would catch on , but after seeing it get rejected here in Oregon, my hope for it has diminished. Like, if we can’t get it in one of the most liberal states in the nation, I don’t see it happening in many other places.
My sense is that it worked here in Maine because we already have a long, long history of multiparty races, generally moderate candidates regardless of party affiliation, and no solid seat of control for either party (our biggest divide is between the North/South of the state and their respective US House Districts: Southern Maine reliably goes D while Northern Maine usually goes R, or a very center-left D as they have now). With that history in mind, several years ago we managed to elect an extremely divisive governor to two terms with under 40% of the vote each time, and I think for a lot of folks that was the final straw that pushed them to support RCV. It reflected our general attitude toward elections already.
[The Maine GOP hates RCV and is trying to get it repealed, but with little support. They don't have any basis for arguing that they have been or are being disenfranchised in elections, but that's certainly the angle they're pushing. It's transparently power-seeking in a way that thankfully hasn't gotten too much traction yet.]
Yeah… I wish folks here were doing something like that with their frustrations. Instead, eastern Oregon is trying to “join” Idaho. 🙃 doesn’t exactly communicate their awareness of what’s realistic.
I wonder if it's an issue of education? If too few people have heard about it and know the potential benefits?
It’s definitely an education issue but also folks see it as being too complicated and want something that feels more simple, like a simple majority win/loss.
I think this is the problem. There is information available but voters are not seeking it. They just see a change to voting and feel fear. I hope more high profile people will talk about it. Get interest going.