mcc
@modulux Okay. This is a complicated subject and you make several assumptions about me I don't think are fair.
First off: The one thing I don't think works is third parties in the united states of america. I was at the Nader rallies in 2000. I've seen this tried. This strategy just doesn't work.
Second off: It's not enough to say "the system must go". You need a plan for making it go. Simply saying "well, we have to throw it all out!" is often followed by doing literally nothing at all.
Jorge Stolfi
Multiple parties cannot work in the US because of winner-take-all district/state voting and single-round presidential elections.
In fact, even the two-party system never worked in the US. Because of the above reasons, and real-time poll analysis, the two parties eventually converge to essentially the same platform, just a hair breadth apart; so that elections are decided by fractions of 1%. This is a well-known result from mathematical election theory.
mcc
@JorgeStolfi @modulux I agree, and I think there are lots of demonstrations that democracy without some form of ranked choice voting will always eventually go pathological and stop being democratic.
Jorge Stolfi
IIUC, Australia has (had?) this system by which losing Congressional candidates got their votes transferred to better-voted candidates, designated before the election. What do Aussies have to say about that system?
Linda Woodrow
@JorgeStolfi @mcc @modulux I'm Australian. Preferential voting. You get a ballot paper (yes paper), with a whole lot of names on it. For House of Reps, usually 5-8, for Senate we call it a tablecloth. You rank the candidates in order of preference, 1 down to whatever. (There's some nuances, like voting above the line for the senate where you rank groups rather than individuals, but let's ignore that for the moment). For me, being left of left, my first ranked candidate normally has no hope. 1/n
Linda Woodrow
@JorgeStolfi @mcc @modulux But, the major parties examine those statistics, and if enough of us vote that way, it tells them, move left or else. And if they don't, it tells other voters, that left wing candidate is a serious contender. Other reason, there's federal government campaign funding of nearly $3 per first preference vote, goes to my far left candidate, and if one of the major parties wants it, they learn they need to move left. But when (sadly almost always inevitably) 2/n
Linda Woodrow
@JorgeStolfi @mcc @modulux my candidate is eliminated, my ballot paper is transferred to my second choice. And, when that one is eliminated, to my third, till all the votes end up in two piles and the bigger pile wins. (Called the two-party preferred). (While all this is happening, it's also happening for the far-right loopies, their candidate eliminated etc). It sounds slow but it's fast - the election usually called within hours though some seats might take days of recounts. 3/n
Linda Woodrow
@JorgeStolfi @mcc @modulux Counting is done by electoral office employees, by hand, and each candidate is allowed a scrutineer to watch the counting. It was a big shock to us when 45 called the election stolen - such a claim would not get any mileage here, even to full on conspiracy theorists. Elections are always Saturdays. Compulsory voting, (or at least turn up and get your name ticked off). Usually a very civil, even celebratory atmosphere. The famous "democracy sausage". 4/n
Linda Woodrow
@JorgeStolfi @mcc @modulux (Charities usually set up to sell sausage sandwiches at polling booths). I appreciate our preferential voting system. And compulsory voting. I think (even though I've never had nor realistically hope to have a government of my choice) it works so much better. 5/5
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