General Politics XII World • Page 362

lol he's such a neoliberal dork. Like someone said earlier, he's basically reddit's governor. And just a few weeks ago when this was tossed around he said RFK would bring back measles and polio so no idea what he's thinking.

Our Secretary of State Jena Griswold and/or our Attorney General Phil Weiser will probably be running in 2026. I think I'd prefer Jena just because of what she's done for elections in CO, but her office recently had a scandal where they had part of the voting machine passwords stored in a google doc that they share on their website in a hidden tab so that is probably going to come back and haunt her in 2026. Phil Weiser basically got the most predatory tow company in Denver to close their doors so he's got a strong angle there.

however, i have an interview with the mayor's office in a few weeks to potentially serve on the planning board so my ascension may begin soon.

 

My local county clerk did an AMA today on Reddit and I found his thoughts RCV and what he would advocate for instead. Thought this was an interesting idea.

 

this is very interesting, but I'd be lying if I said I fully understand the ramifications of this / how this would work

 

i didn't mean for my post to sound like I thought him being HHS could end up being a good thing. He's talked about some things that should be talked about, but the positions he holds and conspiracies he spreads on certain issues are very dangerous and don't belong anywhere near the government.

 

So I looked it up and it has a Wiki page, seems like it is used in St. Louis, MO and Fargo for their local elections of some sort. It is also how the United Nations vote for the Secretary General.

 

Approval voting is good and is much easier to tabulate, but it also doesn't allow you to signal a strong preference to any candidate like FPTP and RCV does. No system is perfect but also I think almost anything is better than FPTP haha. Fargo and St Louis are the only two places I know of that have done approval voting so there is less information and analysis about its real world impact on voters, candidates, campaigns, etc.

I had someone from the approval voting party, which is a minor third party in CO, talk to me a few years ago about doing it in our city, but unfortunately without state legislation supporting it and a mandate from the Secretary of State to county clerks to set their machines up to tabulate it correctly, I have to default to what the state allows. We still allow RCV in CO for local nonpartisan elections but it's been extremely slow getting county clerks to implement it for their locals.

 

So on the opposite side, FairVote.org is not a fan of approval voting but they are big advocates of RCV. I also found two articles by local DSAs that seem to kind of differ in their opinion one from the Madison DSA seems to support it and the DC DSA seems to not.

Should the public trust approval voting?
Approval Voting: What Is It and How Does It Work?

 

using this last presidential election as an example, you would pick all of the candidates that you approve of and vote for them? so if I liked Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Jill Stein, and Chase Oliver I would vote for all 4...?

for some reason I am struggling to understand this, whereas RCV makes perfect sense to me (the process I mean)

 

Seemingly correct but it seems like in the places that have practiced it, there is a big drop-off for the amount of people who vote past one candidate. I wonder how much of this is due to being a "newer" style of system but it seems like one of the negatives is candidates run on only voting for one.

 

Is there any thought on which of RCV or Approval would allow for more third party voices to be able to gain any power? I get that some of this is theoretical because there is not a lot of places that actually have it implemented and trying to predict what voters will actually do can be a fools errand.

 

it seems to me like RCV would do this, but I also admittedly am too dumb to figure this approval thing out haha

I'm gonna read up on it tomorrow after I wake up - it's been a long week

 

I mean, I think until we institute some form of proportional representation, they're all a wash. I think RCV is probably better for third parties because again, it allows you to say "hey Cornel West is my #1, De la Cruz is my #2, Stein is my #3, and as a last resort I'd be fine with Harris," and allows your vote to transfer to each successive candidate in each subsequent round until you get to the centrist candidate, or you could get a third party candidate if they receive enough votes in rounds 1-3.

Approval voting, as noted in the DSA material, tends to allow more centrist candidates to win from the start because you can't say "I'd really prefer West over Harris," your ballot doesn't reflect that. Additionally, centrist parties and movements can game the system because they can all pledge to ONLY vote for Harris even if they themselves would also be fine with West thus ensuring that those honest/naive voters waste their vote on the leftist candidates. Just because you CAN vote for multiple candidates doesn't mean you HAVE to so those that only vote for 1-2 candidates statistically get the candidate(s) they most prefer vs those that vote for several candidates that they approve of.

 

From my very brief research it seems like Approval gets closer to RCV but without the length tabulations and ballots. Seemingly would be easier for voters to transition to then RCV but that is me spitballing.

 

I know everyone wants results quickly because, but I feel like a little extra time figuring out the results is worth it if it means someday we no longer have to settle for our options being trump & Harris

 

If we want results quicker everyone should switch to mail ballots and allow pre-counting :) The results we get are already unofficial anyway. States are still counting ballots and most states won't certify the results until another 1-2 weeks after they conduct their audits and canvasses, barring any recounts (PA).

 

Yeah we’ll fuckin’ see about that

 

I'll believe it when I see it

Either way, the point was never to actually get Gaetz in the AG seat

Main purpose of the nom is to draw focus away from his other terrible nominations so they have an easier time getting through

If Gaetz fails he'll still have done his job, plus the base gets some red meat for their persecution complex.

 

Pfft yeah right