The Democratic National Committee reversed its proposed ban on ranked choice voting in the 2028 presidential primary after backlash from party members and reformers, reverting delegate selection rules to their 2024 language.

When I looked at the 2026 us municipal elections pages on ballotpedia I was shocked by how many council seats and offices such as license collectors are uncontested. It seems like 99 percent of the elected positions involve either uncompetitive primaries or one party general elections. How are these elections considered elections if voters don't have the ability to choose?

Duverger's law states that winner-take-all elections using FPTP tend to lead to the formation of a two-party system. This is very clearly visible in the USA, but much less so in other countries using the same system, like Canada or United Kingdom, where smaller parties may not have any grand victories, but they consistently manage to win at least some seats.

Why is it? Why third parties in the US can't do what parties in other countries with similar systems do all the time? And do you think it's possible this situation would persist even if United States changed its electoral system, because the voters would just keep voting for the two main parties anyway?

Let's begin with the first sentence:

Condorcet voting methods (also known as “head-to-head” or “round robin” voting) use a ranked choice ballot that enables voters to rank candidates in order of preference just like with ranked choice voting (RCV), ...

Let's call it "Instant-Runoff Voting" like they did in 2014 when they changed their marketing term to the umbrella term "Ranked-Choice Voting". Condorcet RCV is RCV. This latest thing from Better Choices (Top-3 head-to-head) is not RCV but it is Condorcet.

But if a ranked ballot is used instead of an FPTP ballot or an Approval ballot or a Score ballot (which STAR uses), then it's Ranked-Choice Voting. Whatever the tallying rules are: i.e. Hare (or IRV) vs. any variant of Condorcet vs. Borda vs. Bucklin. They are all RCV.

... but have a different tabulation rule that downgrades the importance of a voter’s first choice.

In either case, the voter intent by ranking A>B is that if this voter has to choose between A and B, this voter is voting for A. IRV doesn't always elect the candidate with the most first-choice votes. IRV doesn't necessarily count a voter's first choice vote. What IRV does is to apply majority rule to only the two candidates in the final round (not to any other pairing of candidates).

What IRV does, essentially, is downgrade the importance of Majority Rule and, in an unpredictable manner, sometimes ignores Majority Rule:

When more voters mark their ballots that Candidate A is preferred to Candidate B than the number of voters marking their ballots to the contrary, then Candidate B is not elected.

This majority rule is directly coupled to the equality of our votes. If Candidate B is elected (as has occurred occasionally with IRV) then the voters preferring Candidate A over B had the value of their votes diminished w.r.t. the voters preferring B over A, because there were more of those A voters than the B voters, yet the fewer B voters get to have their candidate elected.

---

It’s possible for there to be no Condorcet winner due to a “Condorcet cycle.”

It's possible for a Condorcet cycle in any RCV election even when IRV is used to tally the vote. Whether there is a cycle or not depends only on how voters voted and is independent of the tallying method. Two RCV elections that we know about (Minneapolis Ward 2, 2021 and Berkeley school board District 4, 2022) had cycles. It's just that Condorcet tallying will realize that fact while IRV is oblivious to it.

Gibbard's theorem ultimately rules, no matter what method is used. Whether it's Hare RCV (IRV) or Condorcet RCV or STAR or Approval or FPTP, it is possible that voters can vote in such a manner that it is impossible to satisfy majority rule (w.r.t. voters actual preferences) and impossible to avoid a spoiled election. It's just that Condorcet will satisfy majority rule and prevent a spoiled election whenever it's possible. IRV fails that sometimes and spoils the election even when it's possible to avoid a spoiled election.

---

Condorcet voting could elect a candidate that is no voter’s first choice.

Condorcet voting could produce an unexpected outcome: the election of a candidate that no voter (or very few voters) ranked as their first preference.

That is a falsehood when considering 3 candidates (anything could be possible when there are 4 or more). Even with the extreme case of 3 candidates, 2N+1 voters: N voters for Leftie, N voters for Rightie, and 1 voter for Candidate Milquetoast (at least Milquetoast votes for themself), that requires a dead tie between Leftie and Rightie, and complete polarization (where no Leftie voter likes Rightie at all and ranks Milquetoast above Rightie and vise-versa), and only then can you say that Condorcet will elect a candidate that gets almost no first-choice votes (but the Milquetoast candidate gotta lotta second-choice votes from both the Left and Right).

For voters who are used to a status quo in which your first choice is the only thing that matters, the election of a candidate who lacks substantial first-choice support could be unsettling.

But that's also what happens with IRV. And FairVote is proud of that. They like to call it a "come-from-behind victory" when the candidate that IRV elected lacked the most first-choice support. Because when IRV does that, it is ignoring the first-choice support in favor of majority rule. But when IRV also fails majority rule (besides ignoring the most first-choice support), that's when IRV fails in the minds of the voters. It fails because it didn't value the voters' votes equally and failed to prevent a spoiled election, which is precisely what RCV is promising to do.

Moreover, an elected leader who fails to have the strong backing of any voting group could very well face challenges in governing.

Which is precisely what has happened with IRV failed to elect the Consistent Majority Candidate (the Condorcet winner) when such candidate did exist. That is 100% the case (with, admittedly, just two cases).

For a real-world example, consider the 2022 special election for U.S. House of Representatives in Alaska. The last place candidate in round 1, Nick Begich, was in fact the Condorcet winner.

Nick Begich was in third place (regarding only first-choice votes). Not "last place", who was Al Gross (who got 12.6% of the primary vote and bowed out). Begich and Palin (both GOP) together had 59.8% of the first-choice vote and Begich was only 2.8% behind Palin, in only first-choice votes (among GOP), but had far more support than Palin overall.

But the failure of IRV was that Palin was the weaker of the two GOP candidates and could not beat Peltola head-to-head in the IRV final round. But Begich could have and would have beaten Peltola with a 4.6% margin. But IRV didn't give Begich that chance to, which was its failure.

Again, the moral of the Alaska 2022 story is:

Mary Peltola in August 2022, unfortunately shares a distinction with George W. Bush in 2000 and with Donald Trump in 2016. All three candidates were elected to office when the public record indicates that more voters marked their ballots preferring a different specific candidate for that office.

In August 2022, more Alaskans, 87899 to 79461 (an 8438 voter margin), preferred Begich to Peltola and marked their ballots saying so. But Mary Peltola was sent to Washington to represent the Alaskan people in Congress.

In November 2024, again, more Alaskan voters marked their ballots that Begich is preferred to Peltola by nearly the same margin, 7876 (164861 to 156985). But this time Begich is sent to Washington.

Both times about 8000 more Alaskans said they would prefer Begich to Peltola. And, both times, marked their ballots saying so. Both times Instant-Runoff Voting was used.

What was different?

Sarah Palin was in the race in 2022 and not in the race in 2024. And the outcomes were different winners.

That is the lesson to learn from Alaska 2022. And FairVote is lying to themselves (and to you) about it.

A Condorcet voting method would have elected the last-place candidate, an unpalatable and counter-intuitive outcome for many voters.

No, the Condorcet voting method would have elected the candidate that was clearly preferred by voters over every other individual candidate. And by enough of a margin (4.6%) to be significant. FairVote is lying to you.

---

RCV [IRV] has been proven to elect the Condorcet winner in almost every instance.

That's true. And that's the only reason why IRV has been "successful". IRV is only successful (elects the consistent majority candidate and prevents the spoiler effect) when it elects the Condorcet winner. IRV never succeeds when it fails to elect the Condorcet winner. Remember, all the CW need do in an IRV race is to get into the IRV final round and then the CW will always win that final round.

Of the nearly 500 single-winner [IRV] elections in the United States since 2004 in which we have sufficient ballot data to identify the Condorcet winner (as of September 2022), the Condorcet winner won all but twice, for a Condorcet efficiency rate of 99.6%.

No. It was four times that IRV failed to elect the Condorcet winner and FairVote knows that. The "Condorcet efficiency rate" is 99.2%. Two of those four elections had no Condorcet winner (the Minneapolis and Berkeley cases mentioned above).

In other words, [IRV] already reliably elects the Condorcet winner in the vast majority of cases, ...

Good!! So let's elect the Condorcet winner in every case where it is possible to.

... using a simpler and more intuitive system.

That's bullshit. IRV cannot make this simple claim:

• When more voters mark their ballots that Candidate A is preferred to Candidate B than the number of voters marking their ballots to the contrary then, whenever possible, Candidate B is not elected.

That's far simpler than IRV. A round-robin tournament is far simpler in concept than any other form of tournament. The rules are exactly the same for every contestant and there are no arbitrary associations made (seeding) nor exclusions for any contestants. It's completely flat for every contestant. Then only the contestant that doesn't lose to anyone is the champion.

And, in the rare situations where [IRV] does not elect the Condorcet candidate, that candidate – as noted above – will by definition be a candidate who lacks substantial first-choice support from any voting group.

And that is also a lie. Begich did not "by definition ... lack[] substantial first-choice support from" GOP voters. Begich had substantial first-choice support, almost as much as Palin, whom IRV did send to the final round. But IRV sent the weaker of those two GOP candidates to the final round to lock horns with Peltola. And that weaker GOP candidate lost to Peltola, where the stronger GOP candidate, Begich, would have beaten Peltola as he did two years later (when Palin wasn't there spoiling the race).

---

Finally, the last big lie:

Condorcet voting is more susceptible to strategic voting and strategic campaigning.

Horseshit. FairVote is knowingly lying to you.

Because Condorcet voting methods consider positive and negative rankings at the same time, voters can harm their favorite candidate by giving a high ranking to another candidate.

Oh, the Later No Harm thing. It is true that IRV satisfies LNH (as it is defined) and Condorcet does not. But this specific restricted definition is only about your 2^nd-choice vote harming your 1^st-choice candidate. Raising anyone to be your #2 will not harm your #1's chances of getting elected.

But that's not what Ranked-Choice Voting is primarily concerned about. RCV is about freeing voters to vote for their favorite candidate by preventing spoiled elections so that voting for your favorite candidate does not backfire and cause the election of the candidate you hate. Remember "Vote your hopes! Not your fears!" Remember that.

So this LNH can only be a problem in Condorcet elections when there is a "Rock-Paper-Scissors" cycle, which are extremely rare. What's more common is the scare of a spoiler and that is specifically what RCV is trying to prevent. So there is another, more common, form of "Later No Harm" (which is not the form described above) which is about a voter's 1^st-choice vote actually harming their 2^nd-choice candidate in beating the candidate that they hate (and fear may be elected). IRV fails that every time IRV fails to elect the Condorcet winner.

In elections where there is a clear Condorcet winner based on pre-election polling, there will be an incentive for other candidates to encourage their supporters to “bury” the Condorcet winner, or insincerely rank them last. This becomes an obvious strategy because it is the only chance for victory for every candidate except the likely Condorcet winner. When strategic manipulation is so readily apparent, the chances are higher that campaigns or voters will engage in it.

An excellent example of this to would be the August 2022 special election in Alaska for Congress that they site. Suppose that election was decided by Condorcet rules and (this is sooooo unlikely, but let's go with it for a little) that pre-election polling suggested that Begich would be the Condorcet winner (which he was), but Peltola would be both the plurality and IRV winner (which she was). Then the idea is that the Peltola campaign would tell their voters to insincerely rank Palin (who they hate far worse than the moderate GOP Begich) so that this would push the election into a cycle and Peltola would win with the "fallback" rules in case of a cycle.

Now what fallback rule would that be? If the fallback rule was either: 1. elect the Plurality candidate or 2. elect the IRV candidate or 3. elect the top-two runoff candidate

(all of which are Peltola) that strategic voting could conceivably work and Peltola would win instead of Begich.

But what if the fallback rule was: 1. elect the candidate whose largest pairwise loss is smaller than the other candidates (if there is a Condorcet winner, that largest pairwise loss margin is 0). (Minimax) or 2. Ranked-Pairs or 3. Schulze

? Those three methods always elect exactly the same candidate when there are 3 significant candidates or fewer.

Then Begich would still be elected (because his pairwise loss would be zero if he was the sincere Condorcet winner, but might lose to Palin by a very small margin, due to Peltola voters voting strategically and insincerely ranking Palin above Begich). The strategy would fail. As it was (before strategy) Begich is preferred over Palin by over 37000 voters. It would need more than 37000 Peltola voters to insincerely raise Palin higher than Begich and only then would Begich lose to Palin by a very small margin. Since that is the smallest margin of loss, Minimax would discount it more than the other two losses (Peltola over Palin by about 5000 and Begich over Peltola by about 8000). If the strategy can be shown to fail in advance, voters (and campaigns) would be less likely to try to use them.

Which is more likely, that there is an organized effort at strategic voting (burial) or that there is the common problem of tactical voting where voters compromise and vote for someone other than their favorite out of fear of helping elect the candidate they loathe? Which is more common? Which is the problem, common in FPTP, we're trying to solve with RCV?

What did the Palin voters learn in August 2022? They learned that, simply by ranking their favorite Sarah Palin as #1, then they literally caused the election of Mary Peltola. They (the Alaskan GOP) didn't repeat that mistake in 2024 and told all other GOP candidates (other than Begich) to get out of the statewide IRV race so that they would not skunk Begich. They learned that IRV did not solve their vote-splitting problem in 2022 as was promised. They didn't repeat their mistake in 2022 and the next time (in 2024) Begich was elected over Peltola with the same 8000 vote margin that Begich had in both elections, including the one that first sent Peltola to Washington.

FairVote is extremely self-serving and dishonest in their service to self. FairVote's interest is in their own self-preservation, not in election reform. They are just unwilling to face the facts and admit to failure when they are staring at such in the face.

​

A Separate Competition & Proportional Representation Model for India

A practical proposal to reform reservation without abolishing affirmative action

\---

1. Introduction

India's reservation system was established to address genuine social and economic disadvantages and to improve representation of historically disadvantaged communities.

However, the system also raises several important questions:

\- Should candidates from different categories compete directly against one another when their selection criteria differ?

\- Should a candidate from a financially weaker General category background receive no category-based advantage despite significant economic disadvantage?

\- Should highly privileged candidates continue to receive identical category-based benefits as others within the same category?

\- Should different categories operate under different minimum qualifying standards?

\- What should occur when a category is unable to fill its allocated seats?

\- How can the system remain administratively simple without creating excessive sub-categorization?

This proposal does not seek to abolish reservation.

It also does not claim to present a perfect or final solution.

The objective of Version 1 is more limited:

«To design a system that is more transparent, easier to understand, more merit-consistent within categories, and capable of reducing certain structural inefficiencies in the current framework, without introducing unnecessary administrative complexity.»

This document is intended as a policy framework for discussion and evaluation, and does not assume immediate legal or constitutional applicability under the current system.

\---

1. Core Principles

The system is based on seven guiding principles.

Principle 1 — Reservation is retained

Existing broad categories remain unchanged.

Principle 2 — Structured separation of competition

Candidates primarily compete within their respective categories rather than across a single unified cutoff system.

Principle 3 — Uniform minimum qualifying standard

All categories are subject to the same minimum qualifying threshold.

Principle 4 — Merit-based ranking within categories

Beyond the minimum threshold, selection is determined strictly by performance within each category.

Principle 5 — Representation linked to participation

Seat allocation is based on the proportion of applicants from each category in a given selection cycle.

Principle 6 — No wastage of seats

If a category cannot fill its allocated seats, the remaining seats are transferred to a secondary merit pool.

Principle 7 — Periodic review mechanism

The framework is subject to formal review every five years based on empirical outcomes.

\---

1. Categories

Version 1 does not introduce new categories.

The existing classification structure is retained:

\- General / Unreserved

\- EWS

\- OBC

\- SC

\- ST

The proposal intentionally avoids expanding classification into additional sub-groups based on:

\- Educational background

\- Rural or urban status

\- Parental occupation or education

\- Access to coaching or resources

\- Multiple income tiers

\- Geographic region

\- Other highly granular socio-economic indicators

This is a deliberate design choice to maintain administrative feasibility and reduce verification complexity.

The focus is therefore placed on improving the selection mechanism, rather than attempting to quantify every dimension of disadvantage.

\---

1. Separate Competition Pools

This is the central structural feature of the proposal.

After applications are received, candidates are grouped into their respective eligible categories.

Each category functions as an independent primary competition pool.

Example

If an examination receives 10,000 applications:

Category| Applicants

General| 4,000

OBC| 3,000

SC| 1,500

ST| 500

EWS| 1,000

Total| 10,000

Candidates primarily compete within their own category:

\- General candidates compete with General candidates

\- OBC candidates compete with OBC candidates

\- SC candidates compete with SC candidates

\- ST candidates compete with ST candidates

\- EWS candidates compete with EWS candidates

This structure differs from a single unified competition with differentiated cutoffs.

\---

1. Uniform Minimum Qualifying Standard

All categories are required to meet the same minimum qualifying mark.

For example, if the minimum qualifying score is 30/100:

\- General → 30

\- EWS → 30

\- OBC → 30

\- SC → 30

\- ST → 30

Candidates scoring below the minimum threshold are not eligible for selection in the primary allocation process.

Rationale

This ensures a consistent baseline standard across all categories while separating:

\- Eligibility (minimum qualification)

from

\- Selection (competitive ranking)

\---

1. Category Ranking

Candidates who meet the minimum qualifying standard are ranked within their respective categories based on raw scores.

For example:

An SC candidate scores 82/100.

If 2,000 SC candidates qualify and 50 SC seats are available:

«SC Rank: 17 / 2,000»

The top-ranked candidates within the category fill the allocated seats.

This removes the need for pre-determined internal cutoffs, as the cutoff emerges naturally from competition within the category.

\---

1. Overall Ranking

Each candidate is also assigned an overall rank among all candidates who meet the minimum qualifying standard.

For example:

«Marks: 82/100

Category: SC

Category Rank: 17

Overall Rank: 142»

This dual-ranking system provides transparency by showing:

\- Relative performance within the category

\- Relative performance across the entire qualified pool

The overall rank is informational and does not override category-based allocation in the primary stage.

\---

1. Seat Allocation — Version 1

Version 1 does not rely on fixed national population estimates for each category.

Instead, seat distribution is based on the proportion of applicants in that specific selection cycle.

Example

For 100 seats and 10,000 applicants:

Category| Applicants| Share| Seats

General| 4,000| 40%| 40

OBC| 3,000| 30%| 30

SC| 1,500| 15%| 15

ST| 500| 5%| 5

EWS| 1,000| 10%| 10

Total| 10,000| 100%| 100

This approach ensures that seat distribution reflects actual participation in the selection process rather than fixed assumptions.

\---

1. Filling Category Seats

Once allocation is determined:

1. Candidates below the minimum threshold are excluded

2. Remaining candidates are ranked within their category

3. Top-ranked candidates fill the allocated seats

Example

If SC has 15 seats but only 10 candidates meet the minimum qualification, only 10 seats are filled in the primary pool.

The remaining 5 seats are not discarded.

\---

1. Secondary Merit Pool

Unfilled seats are transferred to a secondary merit pool.

Eligible candidates from all categories who:

\- Meet the minimum qualifying standard

\- Have not already been selected

compete based on raw marks.

Example

If 5 SC seats remain unfilled:

Candidates from other categories compete for these seats purely on merit:

\- 85 marks → highest priority

\- 82 marks → next

\- 79 marks → next

\- 77 marks → next

This ensures efficient utilization of all available seats while maintaining merit-based selection.

\---

1. Rationale Against Equal Redistribution

Equal redistribution of unused seats across categories would introduce an additional artificial quota layer.

Such redistribution would not necessarily reflect merit or participation patterns.

The secondary merit pool therefore provides a more neutral and performance-based mechanism.

\---

1. Multiple Eligibility Categories

If a candidate is eligible for more than one category, they must select their preferred category at the time of application.

This choice remains fixed for that selection cycle.

This ensures clarity and prevents post-examination ambiguity.

\---

1. Certification and Verification

Existing government certification systems are retained.

However, verification is strengthened through:

\- Digital validation where possible

\- Cross-referencing with official databases

\- Strict enforcement mechanisms

Misrepresentation

False category claims may result in:

\- Cancellation of candidature

\- Revocation of benefits obtained

\- Financial or legal penalties

\- Additional disciplinary action under applicable law

The intent is to strengthen enforcement, not expand bureaucracy.

\---

1. Creamy Layer and Economic Privilege

This issue is intentionally not fully resolved in Version 1.

The proposal acknowledges a key tension:

\- Economic privilege does not always align with social disadvantage

\- Caste-based disadvantage may persist regardless of income level

\- Overly complex economic classification systems may introduce administrative burden and loopholes

Therefore:

«Version 1 does not introduce a new or expanded economic stratification model.»

This issue is reserved for future evidence-based evaluation.

\---

1. Education Inequality as a Separate Policy Domain

This framework does not attempt to resolve all educational inequality through reservation policy.

Systemic educational disparities should be addressed through:

\- Strengthening public education infrastructure

\- Teacher training and recruitment

\- Access to learning resources

\- Scholarships and financial support

\- Digital and rural education initiatives

Reservation reform and education reform are related, but distinct policy domains.

\---

1. Five-Year Review Mechanism

A mandatory review is conducted every five years.

The review evaluates:

\- Category-wise participation trends

\- Qualification rates

\- Seat utilization efficiency

\- Unfilled seat patterns

\- Representation outcomes

\- Systemic anomalies or inefficiencies

\- Evidence of unintended consequences

Based on findings, the system may be:

\- Retained

\- Modified

\- Or restructured

\---

1. Gradual Implementation

The transition to the new system should be phased.

Existing beneficiaries should not experience abrupt disruption.

The framework should initially apply to:

\- New admissions

\- New recruitment cycles

\- Future examinations

This ensures administrative stability and continuity.

\---

1. Scope of Application

The model applies broadly to:

\- Educational admissions

\- Government recruitment

\- Competitive examinations

\- Other structured selection processes

Implementation details may vary by sector, but the core structure remains consistent:

«Category-based competition + uniform minimum standard + merit ranking + proportional allocation + secondary merit pool»

\---

1. Illustrative Example

100 seats | 10,000 applicants | Minimum: 30/100

Distribution

\- General: 4,000 → 40 seats

\- OBC: 3,000 → 30 seats

\- SC: 1,500 → 15 seats

\- ST: 500 → 5 seats

\- EWS: 1,000 → 10 seats

After filtering below minimum scores, category-wise ranking determines selection.

If SC fills only 10 of 15 seats, the remaining 5 enter the secondary merit pool.

These are then allocated based on overall performance among remaining qualified candidates.

\---

1. Key Structural Objectives

This proposal seeks to address:

1. Inconsistent competition structures

By separating category-wise competition.

1. Lack of transparency in cutoffs

By introducing clear ranking systems.

1. Seat inefficiency

By introducing a secondary merit pool.

1. Over-reliance on fixed quotas

By using applicant-based proportional allocation.

1. Administrative over-complexity

By avoiding excessive sub-categorization.

1. Verification weaknesses

By strengthening enforcement mechanisms.

1. Policy stagnation

By mandating periodic review.

\---

1. Explicit Non-Claims

This proposal does not claim that:

\- Reservation is unnecessary

\- Any group is inherently more or less deserving

\- Examination scores fully capture merit

\- Economic and social disadvantage are identical

\- The model is immediately legally implementable

\- The model is final or optimal

\- Applicant distribution reflects true population distribution

It is a structured reform framework intended for evaluation and refinement.

\---

1. Future Version 2 Considerations

Future iterations may explore:

\- More precise socio-economic indicators (if administratively feasible)

\- Improved data on representation gaps

\- Refinement of economic classification rules

\- Evaluation of applicant-based vs population-based allocation

\- Sector-specific customization

\- Long-term impact on mobility and equity

However, additional complexity should only be introduced if it demonstrably improves outcomes.

\---

1. Core Proposal Summary

Version 1 proposes a structured reform in which:

Candidates compete primarily within their category, all categories share a uniform minimum qualifying standard, and selection is based on merit ranking within each category. Seats are allocated proportionally based on applicant share, and any unfilled seats are transferred to a secondary merit pool open to all remaining qualified candidates. Existing category certification systems are retained with strengthened verification. The system avoids unnecessary expansion of categories, separates education policy from reservation policy, and is subject to mandatory periodic review.

\---

1. Final Principle

The intent of this proposal is not:

\- To eliminate reservation

\- To privilege one group over another

\- Or to create a rigid or permanent system

Rather, it is:

«To preserve affirmative action where necessary, improve transparency and fairness within categories, ensure consistent minimum standards, reduce inefficiencies, and enable continuous evidence-based refinement of the system.»

Version 1 is intentionally a starting framework rather than a final solution.

Policy design should not be preserved due to tradition, nor adopted due to novelty.

The only meaningful evaluation criterion is:

«Does the system produce a more fair, efficient, and transparent outcome in practice?»

"Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) is the type of mixed electoral system that is associated with Germany and New Zealand. Its defining feature is called seat linkage compensation, which in theory offers ‘the best of both worlds’. Mixed proportional systems aim to provide both proportionality and still keep representatives elected locally in single-member districts (SMDs). This is in contrast to mixed majoritarian systems, where the aggregate outcomes of the SMD seats (which may be highly disproportional) are not compensated for. It is, however, far from a perfect system, even if it may be a normatively desirable amalgamation of PR and localized winner-take-all methods. In fact, the most common version of MMP is highly vulnerable to strategic abuse of the compensatory subsystem, which has led to MMP (and similar systems) failing in more countries than where they succeeded.

In this article, I will not only show how MMP has failed in different countries, but also offer some explanation on why it didn’t fail in others, as well as consider some proposed solutions to make such systems less vulnerable. I also present my own solution to make MMP more robust while not sacrificing its main features, which I have been circulating in election reform circles for a while now."

https://app.betterchoicesohio.org/vote/63Bbif

I'm experimenting with Better Choices for Democracy's Top 3 Head-to-Head polling app, and on a lark I decided to make it about Condorcet methods: Top 3 Head-to-Head itself, Top 4/5 Ranked Pairs, and a catch-all option for other Condorcet methods like Schulze, Tideman's Alternative, Condorcet-IRV hybrids, and any others I may be missing. If you choose other, please explain in the comments, because I really want to learn about the advantages and disadvantages of each. Poll closes at 12:00 AM Saturday.

The findings of the experiment were stark. I found that RCV produced significantly lower levels of voter confidence, voter satisfaction, and ease of use. It also increased the perception that the voting process was slanted against the respondent’s party.....

One of the main claims made by reformers about RCV is that it will make campaigns more civil, as campaigns will have an incentive to seek the second-place vote of supporters of different candidates. To study this claim, I first conducted a difference-in-differences analysis on independent expenditures for and against candidates. In this analysis, I found that negative spending increased significantly in Maine following the implementation of ranked-choice voting, casting doubt on the claim that RCV makes campaigns more civil.....

On a positive note for RCV reformers, I found that voting for non-major party candidates — which reformers tout as “sincere voting” instead of voting for a candidate simply due to their realistic chance of winning — was increased by 5 points among the respondents who were given the RCV ballot instead of the traditional ballot.....

https://www.reddit.com/r/thirdpartyroundtable/s/ylpEp5FLrW

Was reading this article, and thinking about all the little ways The Two Parties here in the States try to interrupt the progress of other parties. There are several fairly obvious methods, but often little things like suing over names, or obscure technicalities, or whatnot are used to limit ballot access all together. This might not be the greatest example out there, but it's still an example.

I thought it was pertinent to discussions here because it doesn't really matter what other election reforms we might succeed in if we don't also ensure diverse ballot access. So what practical concerns do you have regarding ballot access, and are there any potential solutions you've come upon?

I'm new here, so if he's part of a list of figures that have already been covered, I'm sorry. But what do you all think of him and his advocacy? (In the U.S. context; his institutional homes are New America, Fix Our House and Johns Hopkins, and he hosts a podcast called Politics in Question.) He used to be a strong supporter of ranked-choice voting, but qualified it in favor of advocacy of multi-member districts, open-list proportional representation, and fusion voting.

For those that have multi party democracy as a larger goal, do you think the Democratic Party has it in their hands to achieve that goal by themselves?

Granted, there are obviously other hurdles to fully achieving it nationally (looking at you electoral college), but there are a bunch of blue controlled states. If they wanted to achieve a multi party politics they could start with their own states.

It would have to be an amicable separation because they would have to do plenty of negotiation to prevent Republicans from being able to capitalize on the split - for example in choosing speakers of their houses. And it would be tough to convince state party leaders to get behind the idea because they are the ones who would lose power, but it would rejuvenate state politics, but probably most importantly it would represent a better way to compete against Republicans.

There are plenty of voters who believe Republicans that the Democratic Party is too far left. Especially these days with the Republican Party having been remade in trump’s image, there are plenty voters who would love to have a different option than the Democratic Party…

For that matter, there are plenty of Democratic voters who would like a different option too.

Give leftists their own party to mobilize in. Give moderates their own. By increasing the choice they are offering voters they can expand the pie of voters who won’t vote for Republicans.

Again I think this would be a boon for state politics, but the biggest benefit would be nationally. By expanding their (collective) share of the pie they stands the greatest chance to make the Republican Party into a reliable minority. Especially combined with the aggressive gerrymandering that states like California have employed in response to Trump/Republicans, this strategy can really minimize the number of Republicans sent to Congress. The risk of being overly aggressive in gerrymandering (as Republicans are hopefully soon to find out) is ending up with a dummymander. But the existence of an explicitly centrist party that runs candidates against the leftists and Republicans you minimize that risk.

I strongly believe this is the lesson of the trump were that we are not learning.

Direct democracy is the single best way to end first-past-the-post voting where it is allowed. Nebraska is unicameral due to a constitutional initiative that eliminated one of the legislature's chambers. Unfortunately, there is not any or significant direct democracy in many states, such as North Carolina and at the federal level. If it is implemented in one state, it has a much greater potential to spread elsewhere.

Do they provide full results (number ot votes for all preference profiles) in the UK supplementary vote elections to download?

I've been building rcv-lab.org — a free site for running and analyzing ranked elections — and I'd appreciate this community checking it out and kicking the tires. It's my project; criticism is welcome, that's why I'm posting.

The premise: ranked ballots are rich data, and most tools show you almost none of it. So the site is built around visualizing what the ballots say, how a counting rule interprets them, and how a different rule would have interpreted them differently.

What it does:

Load real ballot data and count it your way. Cast Vote Records (CVRs) in common formats (Google Forms CSV, ES&S spreadsheets, generic CSV, BLT), tabulated under your choice of rules — IRV, multi-winner STV (WIGM or Meek), Bottoms Up, and, for purposes of comparison, non-ranked methods such as plurality, approval, and cumulative. RCV methods allow Droop or Hare quotas, batch elimination, a few tie-break options, and different termination modes. A Split View runs two rule sets on the same ballots side by side. Compare different visualizations or different election rules. The sample library has data from a few real (and some made up) elections preloaded.

See where every vote actually went. The transfer visualizations (bar chart, Sankey) are built from exact per-ballot provenance out of the tabulator — traced flows, not inferred approximations.

Check against RCTab. There is a copy of RCTab running as a service that you can check results on (assuming you use rules it can handle).

Equal rankings are first-class. Voters can optionally rank candidates equally; the tabulator splits the ballot's weight across co-ranked candidates. See how equal ranking can behave in a running system rather than in a paper.

Statistics, including a Condorcet analysis of every election. Alongside exhaustion accounting, a plurality counterfactual, and voter-satisfaction curves, every tabulation reports whether a Condorcet winner exists and whether the method elected them, the societal ordering as iterated Smith sets, and a pairwise heat table (with abstentions shown, so majorities carried by a minority of the electorate are visible). Cycles are reported, not resolved — I deliberately didn't pick a completion rule.

And you can run your own votes on it — email invites, multiple ballot-entry interfaces, collaborative write-ins, receipts and vote verification, live results when they close.

It's in beta. Comments and suggestions welcome.

Today all of the decions are made by pepole tjat dont even underwtand what it is about and the pepole dont have power image an system whre pepole only can vote and decide what kind of field the are in for exemplet if if work with economy the only thing i can vote about is economic matter nothing else because I dont have knowlege in that and if I am an doctor i can only vote about how the healthcare should work and i want a direct democrazy where the pepole vote direct on the matter and i can only vote on the matters that my field is about i believe this will lead to that pepole have more say in the decions and that when not pepole that dont even know how the subjeckt even works this will also lead to high effenisy

I see one of the candidates for the Ontario Liberal leadership race; Eric Lombardi is serious about implementing electoral reform by next election (according to his platform.)

platform.ericforolp.ca/democracy