By Brian Pruka
Published April 5th 2004 in The Capital Times
In an editorial last week, The Capital Times said it was impressed with both Madison School Board candidates Ruth Robarts and Alix Olson in Tuesday's School Board election.
Unfortunately, Olson and Robarts are arbitrarily assigned to compete for the same "Seat 3," which means we can vote for Robarts or Olson, not Robarts and Olson. When we vote for one we, by default, must vote the other down.
The arbitrary pairing of candidates to compete for "seats" forces you and I into unwanted and undesirable choices.
If your two most preferred candidates for School Board end up being pitted against one another, you are forced to vote against your second-favorite candidate.
Likewise, if the two candidates you least prefer are paired for the same seat, you are forced to vote for your second-worst candidate.
This is not full democratic choice. Voters should be able to vote for the three School Board candidates that they think are the best.
Other voting methods - proven voting methods - allow voters to vote among numerous candidates all at once. These methods are as simple as: numerically ranking the candidates (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.); casting a vote for every candidate you find acceptable; or having three votes to apportion among the candidates. Any of these methods would make sure we voters could vote our top three choices. My favorite is the ranked ballot - it lets me vote exactly what I want.
This winter, state Rep. Mark Gottlieb, R-Port Washington, introduced AB 911, which would have allowed local governments to adopt alternative voting methods (Note: The Wisconsin Constitution requires local governments to get state permission to change voting methods). Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, was a co-sponsor of AB 911 and I understand he hopes to promote a similar bill next legislative session.
If you want to be able to vote for your top three School Board candidates, I suggest you contact Pocan ([email protected], 266-8570) and tell him you support legislation that enables local governments to use newer, more democratic voting methods.
If you and I help Gottlieb, Pocan and others with election reform, we may finally have the ability to elect our preferred School Board candidates come next election. Our children deserve nothing less.
Unfortunately, Olson and Robarts are arbitrarily assigned to compete for the same "Seat 3," which means we can vote for Robarts or Olson, not Robarts and Olson. When we vote for one we, by default, must vote the other down.
The arbitrary pairing of candidates to compete for "seats" forces you and I into unwanted and undesirable choices.
If your two most preferred candidates for School Board end up being pitted against one another, you are forced to vote against your second-favorite candidate.
Likewise, if the two candidates you least prefer are paired for the same seat, you are forced to vote for your second-worst candidate.
This is not full democratic choice. Voters should be able to vote for the three School Board candidates that they think are the best.
Other voting methods - proven voting methods - allow voters to vote among numerous candidates all at once. These methods are as simple as: numerically ranking the candidates (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc.); casting a vote for every candidate you find acceptable; or having three votes to apportion among the candidates. Any of these methods would make sure we voters could vote our top three choices. My favorite is the ranked ballot - it lets me vote exactly what I want.
This winter, state Rep. Mark Gottlieb, R-Port Washington, introduced AB 911, which would have allowed local governments to adopt alternative voting methods (Note: The Wisconsin Constitution requires local governments to get state permission to change voting methods). Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, was a co-sponsor of AB 911 and I understand he hopes to promote a similar bill next legislative session.
If you want to be able to vote for your top three School Board candidates, I suggest you contact Pocan ([email protected], 266-8570) and tell him you support legislation that enables local governments to use newer, more democratic voting methods.
If you and I help Gottlieb, Pocan and others with election reform, we may finally have the ability to elect our preferred School Board candidates come next election. Our children deserve nothing less.
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers. Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections; the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.