Comments on: Ron Paul endorses Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin for President of the United States http://mensnewsdaily.com/2008/09/23/ron-paul-endorses-constitution-party-nominee-chuck-baldwin-for-president-of-the-united-states/ Men's Rights Activism, MRA Politics, Analysis, Commentary and Global News Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:36:56 -1000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Roger Knights http://mensnewsdaily.com/2008/09/23/ron-paul-endorses-constitution-party-nominee-chuck-baldwin-for-president-of-the-united-states/comment-page-1/#comment-66613 Roger Knights Sat, 27 Sep 2008 18:00:41 +0000 http://mensnewsdaily.com/?p=81886#comment-66613 There is one simple reform that would put the minor parties on a level playing field with the majors: instant runoff voting (IRV). It would mean that votes for minor candidates wouldn't be "thrown away" if they lose. Instead, they would be reassigned to the voters' second choice. (And to their third choice, etc., if their second choice didn't win.) The reason this wasn't instituted back in 1789 is that it imposes an immense clerical task on the vote-counters. But nowadays, when votes are tallied by computerized voting machines, it would be a piece of cake. Minor parties have always faced a chicken-and-egg problem: They won't attract a lot of voters if it looks like they can't win, and they won't look like they can win unless they can attract a lot of voters. But they can't do that because few voters are willing to throw away their votes. IRV breaks the logjam. This is the point that the minor parties should have harped upon at their press conference. There is one simple reform that would put the minor parties on a level playing field with the majors: instant runoff voting (IRV). It would mean that votes for minor candidates wouldn’t be “thrown away” if they lose. Instead, they would be reassigned to the voters’ second choice. (And to their third choice, etc., if their second choice didn’t win.)

The reason this wasn’t instituted back in 1789 is that it imposes an immense clerical task on the vote-counters. But nowadays, when votes are tallied by computerized voting machines, it would be a piece of cake.

Minor parties have always faced a chicken-and-egg problem: They won’t attract a lot of voters if it looks like they can’t win, and they won’t look like they can win unless they can attract a lot of voters. But they can’t do that because few voters are willing to throw away their votes. IRV breaks the logjam.

This is the point that the minor parties should have harped upon at their press conference.

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