[EM] Burlington Vermont repeals IRV 52% to 48%

[robert bristow-johnson]

On Mar 2, 2010, at 9:58 PM, Bob Richard wrote:

> I don't know Burlington geography or politics. But the city council  
> returns make it appear that turnout was much higher in the two  
> wards where IRV lost than in the five wards where IRV won.

i know.  it's weird.

> If that is at least roughly the case, was there something about the  
> city council contests or candidates that would account for such a  
> difference in turnout?

i live in Ward 7, one of the Republican and anti-IRV bastions.  i  
dunno if it's that poor people (wards 2 and 3) and liberals (1, 5, 6)  
don't vote as much as white, upper middle-class, conservatives (4 and  
7).  i would think that the US Supreme Court has mandated roughly  
equal representation (in all things but the US Senate) and that would  
mean, since there are two council seats for each ward, that the wards  
are roughly equal population.  but you couldn't tell by the 3-digit  
turnout in all of the wards except 4 and 7 where there was a healthy  
4-digit turnout.  i am not surprized that my ward and ward 4 were  
strongly against IRV, in fact, i am surprized whenever a Democrat is  
elected from there.  In fact, one of the pro-IRV co-chairs is from my  
ward (he's a state rep and the legislative district boundaries are  
different so i can't vote for or against him), you would not expect  
that either.

i'm just disappointed in the dreadfully low turnout in the other  
wards.  real sad.

well, that does it for a generation.  i will probably never have the  
opportunity to vote on a Ranked Ballot again in my life (not that i  
think the IRV tabulation method was good for shit, at least we could  
*see* who should win because more information was collected from the  
voters). now, in the future elections, we won't even know who was the  
Condorcet winner (fat chance getting him/her elected).

i just wonder if Rob Ritchie and company (and League of Women Voters)  
are looking inward at all tonight and evaluating the effectiveness of  
their Denialism and Happy Talk.

sad.

--

r b-j                  rbj at audioimagination.com

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."




>
> --Bob Richard
>
> robert bristow-johnson wrote:
>>
>> Well, that's sad.  Even with a sorta narrow victory the anti- 
>> IRVers will swagger down Church Street like they own the place. We  
>> will now all accept that God instituted the "traditional ballot"  
>> for use forever and that a 40% Plurality is a "winner".
>>
>> It would have been optimum if IRV survived this vote by a narrow  
>> margin.
>>
>> It's sad that when FairVote introduced and promoted the ranked  
>> ballot that, from square 1, they always coupled it to the IRV  
>> tabulation of votes.  When enough disasters (at least anomalies)  
>> happen like in Burlington or Aspen, some backlash, both ignorant  
>> and enlightened, is bound to happen.
>>
>> -- 
>>
>> r b-j                  rbj at audioimagination.com
>>
>> "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
>>