Defending the Truth

Welcome

Instant runoff voting (IRV) is a voting reform that asks the voter to rank the candidates in order of preference. It is simple, common-sense reform that will greatly improve our democratic process.

IRV has many benefits including giving voters a wider range of choices, eliminating the spoiler factor with third-party candidates, saving taxpayer money, and decreasing negative campaigning.

We need to continue educating more Americans about this simple, practical reform. Click the links above to learn more about IRV and what you can do to help.

Now is the time to implement IRV across the country!
http://www.instantrunoff.com/

Instant runoff elections have been used in San Francisco for about four years. when you have more than two candidates running for the same office, a lot of time and money is saved by avoiding arranging additional elections.

For details of how it works goto: http://www.sfgov.org/site/election_index.asp?id=24269

It worked well in Vermont also!

Instant Runoff Voting Successful in Vermont
Wednesday 08 March 2006

Bob Kiss, a Progressive state representative but a newcomer to city politics, was elected mayor of Burlington on Tuesday, defeating Republican City Councilor Kevin Curley and Democratic state Sen. Hinda Miller.

The election marked the first in the city's history in which instant runoff voting was employed, and Kiss was awarded the victory only after the votes of runners-up in the five-way race were redistributed.

The vote, after second-choice ballots were counted, was 4,761 for Kiss and 3,986 for Miller. Curley received 2,609 votes in the first round. Independents Louie "The Cowman" Beaudin and Loyal Ploof had 119 and 57 votes, respectively.

Kiss won five of the city's seven wards and outpolled Miller in her home ward, Ward 6. As the vote totals were announced in Contois Auditorium at City Hall shortly past 9 p.m. Kiss supporters, who had been tallying the results ward by ward, rose with a loud cheer and began hugging.
http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artm...w.cgi/47/18272
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About 3 weeks ago, Hevusa went to the little boys room to take a dump.

He hasn't been seen, or heard from, since...



What gives?

He didn't mention the little boys room is in Sweden....

Yeah I was gonna say he went on vacation last summer for awhile. I think he went to Sweden last summer too.

You are correct.

I would like to talk about runoff voting. I will try to keep this short.

The primary problem with our election system, as I see it, is that most people are not informed enough to make good choices on who to elect. Most people don't know all of the issues, they don't know the arguments for and against each side, in cases where they do know the arguments on each side, they don't know enough about politics to make a good decision.

Because of this, elections are won and lost for incredibly pointless reasons. Candidates have lost because they look funny in military helmets, because they got excited and screamed during a speech, or because they have "shifty eyes". In the most recent presidential election, the most common reason for voting for Bush was because Kerry "can't make up his mind", and the most common reason for voting for Kerry is because Bush "is a war monger." Neither of those things were even true, yet they decided the election.

Because the public is uninformed, the person who wins the election is not the best candidate, it is the person with the best television ads and the best media coverage, not the person who will take America in the right direction. Anyone who can't get media coverage and can't afford television ads will never even stand a chance.

Instant runoff voting will help a little. It will help some candidates who previously were not considered get a little attention. But it doesn't address the root of the problem: elections will still be decided for stupid reasons.

The best solution to this problem, in my opinion, was created by the founders: the electoral college. The authors of the Constitution understood that the average person is uninformed about politics. But hopefully the average person realizes this. And maybe the average person can say, "I don't know much about politics, but I know somebody who does." So instead of voting directly for the president, people vote for a set of smart, politically informed people. These smart, politically-informed people then choose the president. These people won't choose the president based on television ads or "shifty eyes", they'll choose the president based on his real qualifications and stances on the issues.

This system would have worked. It really would have, if the states hadn't decided to elect the college in the worst fashion imaginable. Most states elect their electoral college by voting for a party on the day of the election. Whichever party gets the most votes gets to choose all of the members of the electoral college, who immediately cast their votes for that party. This completely defeats the purpose of the college. These college members aren't giving any thought to which candidate is best; they decided who they're voting for before the candidates were even announced.

This needs to be changed. The electoral college should elected individually, and it should happen at least a month before the election. Presidential candidates should do their campaigning primarily to the electoral college, not to the average person. This would result in far better presidents being elected.

The Constitution also wrote that Senators were to be elected by the House of Representatives, not by the people. It is similar reasoning: the average person might not know enough to elect a senator, but someone in the house of representatives should be much more informed. This is how the Senate was originally elected, until an amendment changed this. It should not have changed.

The idea behind this election process is to prevent direct democracy, to put a layer between the people and the elected officials. Some people may find this to be "undemocratic" or "unamerican", but remember that the changes I am suggesting would move us back to the way that the authors of the Constitution originally created this nation. It's difficult to get more American than that.

I thought they only had Unisex Bathrooms in Sweden.