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Ranked-choice voting? I don’t think Republicans won’t ever win a national election again until they decide to set an even playing field. Any three-to-one contest can’t be won unless you are Dwayne Johnson in an action thriller.
Here is why: Ranked-choice is based on a two-candidate contest. For simplicity’s sake, we will call it an apple pie and ice cream showdown. On the ballot, we have vanilla (i.e. Democrat); chocolate (i.e. independent); strawberry (i.e. Green Party). All different flavors of the same basic product. On the other side, we have apple pie. Yes, they go together well. But too much of one or the other doesn’t.
When neither one wins 50 percent of the vote and it reverts to the second and third choice, how many of those who voted for ice cream will vote for pie? On the other hand, those who voted for apple pie have no other choice but to vote for second and third-choice ice cream or only vote for a single choice. The outcome of this system of voting is a Democratic win each time.
Republicans have to field a full slate of candidates to counter this harlequin ballot of electorates. Apple pie and ice cream are great together. This is the way our politicians and country should be run no matter what flavor of ice cream or apple pie. The one with the most votes should win on election day.
Frederick Ashmore
Hancock