[EM] Pseudo-election reform in California

[Dr.Ernie Prabhakar]

Hi all,

One of my favorite columnists, Dan Walters, is talking about a new  
approach to California's politicized, gerrymandered primaries:

http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/columns/walters/story/9490344p 
-10414306c.html

>  The new plan would have all candidates for office run on one ballot.  
> If none got an outright majority in the primary, the top two  
> vote-getters, regardless of party, would vie in a general election  
> runoff. The system is very similar to the way California fills  
> nonpartisan local offices and vacant legislative and congressional  
> seats in special elections.

Has anyone heard of this?  It basically sounds like it eliminates  
parties, but is still based on plurality.  Any thoughts on whether it  
is likely to work, and/or encourage 'median' candidates?  The  
justification for multiple rounds, I suspect, is that primary campaigns  
will still tend to be lower-profile, and more sectarian, compared to  
the fall general election.

At any rate, it is far from ideal, but still sounds like a huge step  
forward.

If they *were* willing to consider rank-order voting of some kind, what  
would be the optimal method to use for selecting the top-two for a  
runoff?

-- Ernie P.
-----------
Ernest N. Prabhakar, Ph.D. <DrErnie at RadicalCentrism.org>
RadicalCentrism.org is an anti-partisan think tank near Sacramento,  
California, dedicated to developing and promoting the ideals of  
Reality, Character, Community and Humility as expressed in our Radical  
Centrist Manifesto: Ground Rules of Civil Society  
<http://RadicalCentrism.org/manifesto.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 1665 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.electorama.com/pipermail/election-methods-electorama.com/attachments/20040531/c0e8b31b/attachment-0002.bin>