Constitution Party Begins Ballot Petition Drive
The Constitution Party of Arkansas has begun a petition drive to get its candidates, including Mayor Frank Gilbert for Governor, on the ballot for the 2010 elections.
They do not intend to run candidates for federal offices. Their goal is my goal- fix Arkansas first. One of the main platform planks is to get Instant Runoff Voting in the state to eliminate forever the fear of "splitting the vote" pressuring people to continue to vote for a "lesser of two evils" candidate.
Last cycle 71% of state legislative races were unopposed in the general election.
You can help and it won't take much. They need 300 people to collect and mail in 40 signatures each before July 5th. Will you be one of Gideon's 300? Here is a link explaining where to mail the petitions and to the petitions themselves. Just print a couple off. Probably the best way is to go ask your friends and family to sign (registered voters) and if one of them expresses enthusiasm ask them to gather the signatures for that sheet and give it back to you when they are done. That way you just need to find 20, and they just need to find 20.
They do not intend to run candidates for federal offices. Their goal is my goal- fix Arkansas first. One of the main platform planks is to get Instant Runoff Voting in the state to eliminate forever the fear of "splitting the vote" pressuring people to continue to vote for a "lesser of two evils" candidate.
Last cycle 71% of state legislative races were unopposed in the general election.
You can help and it won't take much. They need 300 people to collect and mail in 40 signatures each before July 5th. Will you be one of Gideon's 300? Here is a link explaining where to mail the petitions and to the petitions themselves. Just print a couple off. Probably the best way is to go ask your friends and family to sign (registered voters) and if one of them expresses enthusiasm ask them to gather the signatures for that sheet and give it back to you when they are done. That way you just need to find 20, and they just need to find 20.
posted by Mark Moore (Moderator) at Monday, April 26, 2010
3 Comments:
This is one thing I agree with you on. Instant runoff voting is THE only way to get rid of the brain dead career politicians. So are you trying to get it onto the ballot as an inititive? If so, I'm on board.
Rob,
This issue really transcends left-right. The only ones against it are the political class, whether D or R.
If I thought we could get it on the ballot as an initiative, I would. It takes 80K + signatures for that. It takes only 10K good ones to get an alternative party on the ballot whose candidates can push the issue. If a few state legislative candidates get elected, they can work for it either as a referred measure or, except for state wide executive offices, simply change the election law.
Care to download a petition and get signatures for the Constitution Party on the ballot? Or at least sign a petition?
If we are going to replace the very problematic plurality voting method with any other method, what are the reasons for choosing instant runoff voting?
Of all the voting methods available to replace plurality, instant runoff voting (IRV) is the most flawed and poorest performing voting method we could choose. Range voting (score voting) and its simplified variant approval voting are much better methods. At the very least, if the public insists on using a ranked-ballot method, any version of a Condorcet voting method is far superior to IRV.
It would be very unfortunate if IRV were implemented at any locality in Arkansas because the opportunity for expanding voting method reform to state and federal elections is prohibited by the logistical complications of this method. It does not work well for elections with many voting precincts and many candidates.
For explanations of IRV's failings, please see the following websites:
http://www.instantrunoffvoting.us/
http://instantrunoff.blogspot.com/2009/06/truth-about-instant-runoff-voting-it.html
http://vermontdailybriefing.com/?p=1213
http://instantrunoff.blogspot.com/2009/03/burlington-instant-runoff-election.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=img9y2AYTQA
Sites that discuss various other voting methods:
http://www.rangevote.net/
http://rangevoting.org/
http://motherjones.com/politics/2008/01/verdict-our-voting-system-loser
http://www.approvalvoting.org/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_theory
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