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As we are all aware, Americans are voting early in huge numbers due to the pandemic and perhaps other reasons. With such a high turnout, it is important that our elections are as fair as possible. Unfortunately, in many cases, our current system takes power away from voters by only offering them choices between two extremes. In addition, corrupt big money rules our current winner-take-all politics because insiders pick the winners before you even have a choice.
There is an alternative, however, and that is Ranked Choice Voting. This system will allow people to run from a variety of backgrounds, and correspondingly different viewpoints. It will also change the discussion, so instead of attacking each other, candidates will actually talk about the issues.
It will also avoid the problem of “the spoiler,” which is so common in many elections. A third-party candidate would no longer be able to take away votes from a similar candidate, letting the opponent win.
Ranked Choice Voting is used all over the world, like Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
If you are interested in the mechanics of how it works, please go to yeson2rcv.com and click on the “About RCV” tab for a simple explanation. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is. Once voters have used it, the initial “newness” wears off and it becomes second nature.
So, please vote for Question 2 this election. It will change our democracy for the better, guaranteed.
Thank you.
Robert Connor
Reading, MA
