[EM] FWD - Instant Run-Off Letters to the Editors

[Donald E. Davison]

  ----------- Forwarded Letter ------------
To: instantrunoff at egroups.com
From: Jason Johnston <Jason.Johnston at oberlin.edu>
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 19:15:41 -0800
Subject: [instantrunoff] letters to the editors

Anyone out there who hasn't written a letter to their local newspapers
about IRV, I strongly urge you to do so, and you're welcome to make use of
the letter I wrote, it got responses from several people wanting to work on
IRV.  Now's the time-

[The Letter:]
        Once we've figured out who gets the Presidency we'll have to decide who
gets the blame.
        Before you Democrats string up Ralph Nader from the tallest editorial
section you can find I'd like to suggest you broaden your horizens a bit.
Ralph Nader had every right to run and the frustrated three percent had
every right to vote for him, that's democracy.  It's the fault of our
flawed electoral system that voting for who you believe in necesarily helps
those you most despise, and it's towards that flawed electoral system where
your wrath belongs.
        Before you Nader voters fade back into the woodwork, know that your
vote
awoke the nation to the threat corporate power poses to our democracy, and
sowed the seeds for a true populist movement.  However, if we do not seize
the moment and continue the movement, the sacrifice of the Presidency will
have been for nothing.  It's our flawed electoral system that kept Nader's
support at 3% rather than 30%, and it's these flaws that our movement must
overcome.
        Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) eliminates that flaw.  With IRV, voters can
choose to rank a second and third choice, and if their first choice is at
the bottom of the pile, their votes are redistributed to their second, and
so on, until the canidate prefered by the majority wins (check
www.farivote.org for more info).  The spoiler effect, "lesser-evilism,"
vanishes, and democracy replaces duopoly.  IRV will soon be on the ballot
in Alaska and Vermont, I say we can do it here too.  If your intrested in
shaking things up, email me at ------------------.


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Kill the 'wasted vote' syndrome by ranking candidates (1, 2, 3) and
requiring a majority of votes to win.

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For more information: www.fairvote.org, www.midwestdemocracy.org,
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                     MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT!