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New York Times
Letters
October 21, 2002
To the Editor:
"A Gray Future for California Voters," by Clancy Sigal
(Op-Ed, Oct. 17), echoes many other contributors to the bitter
debate between Democrats and Greens by ignoring the one reform that
would end the need for this argument and make our elections more
democratic. That reform is instant runoff voting, a system in which
voters rank their candidates, allowing a No. 2 preference to be
counted if a voter's No. 1 choice can't achieve a majority.
This eliminates the "spoiler" problem while still
allowing voters to express their true choices, instead of being
frightened into voting for a poor candidate just because a worse one
might win.
Leftists, liberals and anyone else who loves democracy
should concentrate on winning this reform rather than continuing the
pointless bickering over who is more pure and who more pragmatic.
Jake Werner
Chicago, Oct. 17,
2002 |
