By EDITORIAL
Published October 27th 2000 in Trenton Times
The New York Times yesterday editorially spanked Ralph Nader for
continuing his run for the presidency on the Green Party ticket. Under
the headline "Mr. Nader's Electoral Mischief," The Times charged that
the long-time consumer advocate is misleading the voters when he claims
that there are no clear policy choices between the major party
candidates, George W. Bush and Al Gore. The newspaper deplored the fact
that the Nader candidacy could be a "spoiler," siphoning enough votes
away from Mr. Gore in key states to throw the election to Mr. Bush. "We
would regard Mr. Nader's willful prankishness as a disservice to the
electorate no matter whose campaign he was hurting," The Times said.
"The country deserves a clear up-or-down vote between Mr. Bush and Mr.
Gore, who have waged a hard, substantive and clean campaign."
The Times is correct on all those points. Nevertheless, this is America, where anyone who has the audacity and the message has a perfect right to run for president, and where voters have a right to a ignore the two major-party candidates and vote, if they wish, for a Green Party candidate, a Libertarian, a Socialist or a Vegetarian, without feeling that their ballot has been wasted or that what they actually are doing is helping elect someone whose views and principles they despise. How to reconcile these conflicting democratic interests?
It can be done; it is being done in Ireland, Australia, London and other foreign venues. The secret is "instant runoff" voting -- IRV -- which the Green Party, among others, advocates. It's a system that ensures that the winner will have a majority of the votes cast, thus giving him or her a mandate. But it also ensures that the public will hear the voices of candidates who disagree with the positions of the two major parties and have different issues to raise and solutions to propose.
Under IRV, voters cast ballots for their first-, second- and third-choice candidates. If no candidate receives a majority of first-place votes, the last-place finisher's second-choice votes are redistributed among the remaining candidates. The process continues until one candidate gets a majority. In Ireland in 1996, Mary McAleese, one of five candidates for the presidency, gained only 45 percent of first-choice votes. But she was the second choice of enough supporters of losing candidates to win easily with 58 percent after the bottom three candidates were eliminated.
IRV would be suitable for any election in which more than two candidates compete. The more candidates there are in the field -- recall the crowded fields in some Trenton City Council races, or New Jersey gubernatorial primaries -- the greater the chance, under the present system, of a candidate winning with less than a majority, and, therefore, the greater the benefit of switching to IRV. The change would greatly improve the democratic process. It ought to be made.
The Times is correct on all those points. Nevertheless, this is America, where anyone who has the audacity and the message has a perfect right to run for president, and where voters have a right to a ignore the two major-party candidates and vote, if they wish, for a Green Party candidate, a Libertarian, a Socialist or a Vegetarian, without feeling that their ballot has been wasted or that what they actually are doing is helping elect someone whose views and principles they despise. How to reconcile these conflicting democratic interests?
It can be done; it is being done in Ireland, Australia, London and other foreign venues. The secret is "instant runoff" voting -- IRV -- which the Green Party, among others, advocates. It's a system that ensures that the winner will have a majority of the votes cast, thus giving him or her a mandate. But it also ensures that the public will hear the voices of candidates who disagree with the positions of the two major parties and have different issues to raise and solutions to propose.
Under IRV, voters cast ballots for their first-, second- and third-choice candidates. If no candidate receives a majority of first-place votes, the last-place finisher's second-choice votes are redistributed among the remaining candidates. The process continues until one candidate gets a majority. In Ireland in 1996, Mary McAleese, one of five candidates for the presidency, gained only 45 percent of first-choice votes. But she was the second choice of enough supporters of losing candidates to win easily with 58 percent after the bottom three candidates were eliminated.
IRV would be suitable for any election in which more than two candidates compete. The more candidates there are in the field -- recall the crowded fields in some Trenton City Council races, or New Jersey gubernatorial primaries -- the greater the chance, under the present system, of a candidate winning with less than a majority, and, therefore, the greater the benefit of switching to IRV. The change would greatly improve the democratic process. It ought to be made.
