[EM] why can't we have the Ranked Ballot (even IRV) for primaries?

[robert bristow-johnson]

On Aug 27, 2010, at 12:09 AM, Dave Ketchum wrote:

>
> On Aug 26, 2010, at 11:23 PM, robert bristow-johnson wrote:
>> ...
>> still agree that Condorcet is better than IRV, but IRV is better  
>> than FPTP.  within the Racine camp (which is where i was a  
>> volunteer and able to directly observe what was going on on primary  
>> night) there were some pining for IRV believing that our candidate  
>> would have prevailed if IRV was operative instead of FPTP.
>
> I suspect that many are simply echoing the label they have heard for  
> Ranked Choice.

most people still don't know or get the difference between the ranked- 
choice ballot and the STV method of tabulation.

>
> Let IRV keep what it demonstrated in Burlington - but avoid  
> Condorcet getting scarred by that.

yup.

>>
>>> For another day I would promote Condorcet for the general  
>>> election, noting that that reduces the value of even having  
>>> primaries.
>>
>> i think that, especially for a single-seat office, that parties  
>> will want to proffer one candidate that is "our guy".  then  
>> primaries or caucuses or something is needed within the primary to  
>> decide who their guy is.  and in the U.S., the state governments  
>> enacted laws regarding that to keep parties honest within  
>> themselves.  they didn't want major parties to select their  
>> candidates solely within smoke-filled rooms.  so most states  
>> imposed primaries upon the parties and some imposed advanced  
>> registration to a party to be eligible to vote in such primary.
>>
> The advanced registration makes sense to protect against invasion  
> with intent to destroy.

for better or for worse, Vermont (and a few other small states) do not  
require advance registration.  since the Republican candidate (Brian  
Dubie) ran unopposed in the Republican primary, any GOPper who was  
willing to sacrifice his/her participation in selecting their  
candidates in lessor offices (or for US congress), could have voted in  
the Dem primary to stir up trouble.  in fact, the way it's done in  
Vermont, you don't even ask for the ballot of the party you want to  
vote in, they give you 3 ballots (1 GOP, 1 Dem, 1 Prog), you fill one  
out, put it in the voting machine and toss the other two ballots.

--

r b-j                  rbj at audioimagination.com

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."