An Inane Anti-Democratic Argument Against the Ranked Choice Initiative
If Krista Kafer's column is the "best" argument against the initiative, then vote for it
In the Denver Post today Krista Kafer wrote up her arguments against the Ranked Choice Initiative. Let’s go through this embarrassing attempt to denigrate the idea.
Sirota’s amendment to Senate Bill 210, an election reform bill, will ensure the rollout of ranked-choice voting, should it pass by voter initiative, will be implemented thoughtfully.
So there goes the will of the people. SB 210 is arguably a good idea. The thing is, in a Democracy the people are allowed to vote for bad ideas. Electing Donald Trump President in 2016 was a horrible idea. But having some entity then overturning the election results - an even worse idea.
It’s a confusing system
If a voter has a problem writing in the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 the problem is not this voting system. They problem is they are an idiot without even a 3rd grade education.
after all the tallying is done the most popular candidate (the one most voters ranked first) will go home empty-handed. In the 2010 Oakland mayoral race, the candidate who received the most votes in round one ultimately lost the election after nine rounds of vote redistribution. How fair is that to candidates or voters?
We have an upcoming primary in CO-4. Lauren Boebert will likely get ~ 40% of the vote. And 60% of the electorate will be spread across the others, but likely agree one one thing - they prefer anyone other than Boebert. When Boebert wins with her 40%, how is that fair to the 60% of the electorate that wants anyone else?
It is likely the complexity will persuade some voters to chuck their ballot.
You’re repeating yourself (generally the sign that you don’t have many valid arguments). To repeat, for the few voters that do not have the math skills required to pass 3rd grade, that’s not a reason to retain a sub-optimal system.
Colorado does not have a problem with extreme candidates or officeholders.
Have you listened to some of the bozos that have been elected in this state? Lauren Boebert, Tina Peters, etc.
I did not vote for either of the state’s U.S. senators, my congressman, my representatives in the Colorado General Assembly, the governor, the attorney general, the secretary of state or the treasurer.
Assuming you voted for the Republican candidates - you were trying to elect extreme candidates. Did you listen to Heidi Ganhal and her crazy town stuff on children acting as cats in school?
Your argument here is the majority of voters are selecting the thoughtful moderate reality based candidates over the nut cases (mostly but not entirely Republicans), that you want to elect. Weird way to make your point.
It passed unanimously on voice vote.
That doesn’t make it right. I support the initiative. I think SB 210 makes it better. But I also support our Democracy and that means that we respect the will of the voters.
To sum up your arguments against the initiative, it’s bad because:
Adults without a 3rd grade level of numeracy will struggle with it.
The candidate who wins the plurality should win over the votes of the majority.
The thing is, as a Republican (based on your listed state-wide votes), you should love this. Republicans are headed to micro-minority status in this state. This will give the thoughtful moderate Republican candidates a much better chance. And those are the ones that can win.
Some decades ago, when there was a form of ranked choice voting in Hawaii, we had a more balanced Legislature, instead of the Super Democratic present membership. And those “voter’s second choice” Republicans were Moderates. You are correct, and kooks weren’t elected.