Approval Voting: Better Than Ranked Choice? (David Pakman Show)
5 replies, posted
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8kHXorCxz4
That actually sounds like a pretty neat idea. I think there would have to be a lot of upheaval to get the US to change how voting happens though.
Approval Voting is great in that it’s very easy for the average person to understand - whereas ranked systems such as Instant-Runoff Vote and Single Transferable Vote can be hard to articulate. And democracy only works if the people also know how it works. Eg I doubt that even half of the advocates for Instant-Runoff Vote here on Facepunch could competently explain how it actually works.
But I myself wouldn’t advocate for Approval Voting, because it is often suggested as an alternative to FPTP, when the main problem with FPTP is tactical voting - which Approval Voting is also vulnerable to. And in the American context, Approval Voting would still be vulnerable to gerrymandering - whereas other altneratives like List Proportional voting systems are mostly immune.
Mostly I’m just concerned that’s people are looking for magic pills that can somehow save democracy, in these alternative voting methods. When people should instead be concerned about things such as political culture, concentration of power, opaque, ineffective government hiding positions which shouldn’t be elected (most local government positions in America), ballot access, and disenfranchisement and disenchantment of voters. And some may suggest that Sortition systems have far more to offer for democracy, than elected representatives.
The problem is that Americans struggle with FPTP as is, Florida's 2018 Senate race was decided by 40 thousand people not knowing where to vote for Senate on the ballot due to it's slightly unusual ballot
placement.
Oh absolutely. I myself actually voted today in the New South Wales state election, and it was a very pleasant experience. It was pleasant not because the NSW Legislative Assembly and NSW Legislative Council are elected by ranked voting methods (although that helps), but mainly because:
Election day is a Saturday, so I didn’t need to get time off of work to vote
There were plenty of polling places around, so when I rocked up to the local primary school to vote, there was no queue and I could vote almost immediately. I was in and out in about 5 minutes
I didn’t have to present a stupid Voter ID card, or go through some unnecessarily complicated voter registration process beforehand. Instead, I simply went up to the desk, gave them my full name, they asked me to confirm my date of birth, and then gave me the paper ballots and directed me to the voting booths
Voting is simply with pen and paper, so there’s no bullshit computer or hole punch system to use, and the ballot papers are designed to be as unambiguous and easy to understand as possible. The lower house ballot looked quite like this:
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/226043/43918a67-9ccc-4086-a80e-f38bdac6a294/2A0F7F3D-D8BB-4D32-9E57-EAF3D0F0BE3D.jpeg
they weren’t yet set up at the particular polling place I went to, but many polling places in Australia have sausage sizzles where you can grab a snag on a bun and a can of coke after you vote.
This is why you should move to qld, pollies handing out free tinnies if you said ya voted for them
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