Maine’s New Voting System Is Mathematically Superior—and Constitutionally Questionable
5th January 2019
The main idea behind RCV is to collect more information about each voter’s preferences by giving them the option to rank the candidates. If no one wins a majority of first place votes, the last place candidate drops out and their votes go to the voters’ second choices (if any) in an on-the-spot runoff election, but without the hassle or cost.
Sometimes known as the ‘Australian ballot’, presumably because it was invented in Australia.
The system used currently in U.S> elections (and in British Parliamentary elections) is called ‘first past the post’ and a lot of people really hate it.
The additional information from each voter means that RCV has a much greater chance of avoiding the nightmare scenario of electing a candidate who would lose in head-to-head matchups against all other candidates—a situation known as Borda’s paradox. Researchers can debate the respective merits of various voting schemes for hours—and have, at a 2010 workshop in Normandy. But one fundamental idea almost all agree on is that a straight plurality vote is the worst way to pick a politician.