Restoring Democracy in America
Regardless of which end of the political spectrum you may hail from, one principle we all can or at least should agree on is that in any election, primary or general, state or federal, the candidate most broadly preferred among the electorate as a whole should prevail - i.e., the wisdom of the crowd will in the end make the best choice.
But, as it is, our current binary election system, when it includes more than two parties/candidates, all too often results in the least desirable candidate emerging, simply because the most widely acceptable candidate will have had votes siphoned off by the third (spoiler) candidate and we are left with the 2nd choice.
I am of course referring to the familiar examples of this phenomenon, which include the 1992 Presidential election in which H. Ross Perot's candidacy, it could be easily argued, resulted in the election of Bill Clinton. (Whether that result was good or bad is irrelevant.) Or, the 2000 election which included Ralph Nader.
In these and other cases, the will of the people did not prevail.
So, the current system of choosing our leaders is obviously producing a polar choice of candidates. And the broader, and frequently more moderate candidates, are left out of the process. As a result, we are becoming increasingly polarized. (I realize that is a huge, unsubstantiated claim but I think you will agree.)
Proposed Alternative and Benefits
As an alternative, we need to take a good, hard look at systems such as Ranked Choice Voting (known by various other names).
I'm sure you are all familiar with this type of system, which has been implemented in several states, municipalities and school districts, as documented here.
To illustrate how it could change the political discourse, an example is the issue of a Howard Schultz candidacy throwing the election to Donald Trump would be rendered moot by having rank order elections. So, we wouldn't have to have the needless discussion of whether or not he should run. The multiple candidate selection process will take care of that.
A third party candidate then becomes viable. And, anyone thinking of voting for him or her would not feel they are "throwing their vote away". His or her candidacy may, as a result, bring more ideas and possibilities to the primary process, or the general election.
But, what gets me excited about the prospects of a wider method of selection is that these types of election systems do more than just prevent third party candidates from becoming spoilers. They make other candidates much more viable and consequently give voters more choices. And so, instead of restricting choice, we expand it.
And, in the end, such voting would enable more, potentially 3rd, 4th or even 5th, candidates and choices and encourage more participation among the electorate.
Summary
As voters, I have to say we are exhausted by a system that "shoe-horns" our available choices into two polar extremes.
If we want more voters to choose, we need to give them more choices.
Thank you.
William Shaheen
Gold Canyon, AZ
#RankedChoiceVoting
#RankedChoiceVotingAZ
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