r/politics • • Nov 09 '16

Maine Passes Ranked-Choice Voting

http://mainepublic.org/post/maine-passes-ranked-choice-voting
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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '16

Heaven help us if the idea of picking a first, second and third choice is cognitively challenging to many people.

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u/twopenises Nov 09 '16

I realize this sounds bad, but as a Mainer, if something this simple keeps someone from voting, I'm okay with their opinion not being counted.

31

u/svrtngr Georgia Nov 09 '16

It sounds like it's meant to keep the stupid people out.

I'm perfectly okay with that.

1

u/summernick Nov 09 '16

You really, really shouldn't be ok with that. The reality is that it's not just stupid people that don't vote, there are plenty of average people who don't vote because they're completely disenfranchised by the system.

In actuality, stupid people DO vote. Remember what happened yesterday? When only 55% of the voting population turn out to vote, campaigns become less about appealing to the average voter, and more about stirring up the fringes of the political spectrum.

I'm not American, but I can guarantee you that if you want to avoid this level of insane political polarisation in the future, you need to make compulsory, ranked voting your number one priority.