@inthehands I see. Yes, Instant runoff isn't the best, but I definitely wouldn't say it's terrible. It's certainly significantly better than plurality voting.

@inthehands Candidate cloning?

@inthehands Instant runoff/single transferable vote isn't that bad. It still eliminates the need for strategic voting and tells the more powerful parties that they aren't as highly prized as they think. Theoretically, they'll be more likely to take advice from third parties that received a high number of high ranked votes, though I don't think this happens.

@inthehands @StillIRise1963 It's by no means a cure-all, but two things that desperately need to be implemented in the US are ranked choice voting (strategic voting wouldn't be a thing anymore, if the person you most want to win doesn't, your vote goes to your next choice), and compulsory voting (voting isn't a privilege, it's a duty like jury duty, a necessary part of being a citizen).

@StillIRise1963 I *really* don't want to vote for Biden, the bar was extremely low and he's still managed to disappoint, but I'm gonna do it anyway because Trump is *so* much worse. It's not even a contest.

@emilygorcenski Is storing the data on someone else's server really necessary? If there isn't an app that stores the data locally, I'd bet you could accomplish pretty much everything with a spreadsheet. I'm sure the apps are very convenient, but not at the expense of privacy.

@punkonbus1701 France *did* see civil unrest a few years ago so they increased police surveillance. I think California's worst wildfire season was in 2020. Political upheaval in Europe isn't exactly unlikely. Violent civil disturbance in the US is a very reasonable prediction. A British baseball team very much isn't, though. There *is* an American Aussie Football League, though, so that's interesting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Australian_Football_League

@Incognitim @emilygorcenski You don't get help by being arrested unless you have a wealthy and/or powerful family behind you. It's atrocious that his booking photo is allowed to be public before conviction, even assuming he does get the help he needs, anyone who makes the connection will think twice about hiring him. If he is convicted, that precludes most employment automatically. And he'll still have easy access to guns no matter what.