To the editor:
In any primary or election you get only one vote;, winner take all. Think about the presidential primary coming up. Do you really like only one candidate or would you be okay if one of several won ?
If we had ranked choice voting, as do the voters in Maine, you wouldn't have to choose just one. And you wouldn’t be really disappointed if a candidate that would have been your third choice won.
Say there are three candidates, A, B, C . You choose as your first choice candidate C. You mark as your second choice B. Your third choice is candidate A. Candidate A gets the most votes, but not a majority. Candidate C got the fewest votes, so all those who chose candidate C have their votes counted for their second choices. Maybe this time candidate B has the most votes but not a majority. So the remaining candidate with the lowest number of votes, candidate A, is eliminated and the votes of those who voted for candidate A are counted for their second (or third) choice. This time candidate B has a majority of votes and wins the election. She/he was your second choice, so wouldn't you feel better than if you got to vote for only candidate C and then candidate A won?
Like ranked choice voting? Let your state senator and assembly member know. The state legislature has to change the rules for voting and now is the time to start talking about it.
Andi Weiss Bartczak
Publishing history
Albany Times Union 3/20/`9
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