{"id":9411,"date":"2023-08-24T14:03:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T14:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=9411"},"modified":"2023-08-24T14:03:01","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T14:03:01","slug":"ranked-choice-voting-can-assist-to-protect-democracys-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/24\/ranked-choice-voting-can-assist-to-protect-democracys-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranked-Choice Voting Can Assist to Protect Democracy’s Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, why is Ohio Senate Bill 137 set to ban RCV?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By DemocracyIssues.com, an Ohio-based Voter Rights initiative<\/strong><\/p>\n

A small group of Ohio politicians are leading an anti-democratic effort that
\ncontinues to take away voting rights of targeted segments of citizens in
\norder to increase their own power and control of State government.<\/p>\n

This is another effort from these anti-democratic politicians that follows
\ntheir failed attempt to grab more power by deceiving voters about the real
\npurpose of Issue 1 that was on the August 2023 ballot.<\/p>\n

These politicians have now introduced Senate Bill 137 that is aimed at
\nbanning Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) in the State.<\/p>\n

With all of the issues facing Ohio citizens, how can banning a pro-democracy
\nvoting reform be a priority for the State’s Legislature?<\/p>\n

Ranked-Choice Voting is Pro-Democracy, Majority Rule<\/strong><\/p>\n

To win an election, Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV) requires a candidate to have
\nbroader voter appeal in order to obtain a majority of the total votes cast.<\/p>\n

With the current plurality system and multiple candidates in a contest, an
\nelection can be won with far less than the majority of the votes, since in a
\nplurality contest it only takes the most votes to win.<\/p>\n

In an RCV contest, instead of voting for one candidate, voters have more
\nchoices, and simply rank their top selections. For example, even if a
\nvoter’s favorite candidate does not win, their 2nd choice may be victorious.<\/p>\n

How RCV Works
\n<\/strong>
\nIf no candidate receives a majority of votes in the first tabulation round,
\nthe candidate in last place is eliminated. Then, in any tabulation round
\nthat follows, the secondnd choice votes that were cast by an eliminated
\ncandidate’s supporters are distributed to the remaining contenders until one
\ncandidate obtains a majority.<\/p>\n

With Ranked-Choice voting, candidates are more civil and respective of each
\nother as they need their opponents’ supporters to rank them high in their
\nselections.<\/p>\n

Vote Splitting Results in Minority Rule<\/p>\n

<\/strong>Primary contests for each political party can have a large number of
\ncandidates running. With a large number of candidates splitting the votes,
\nit takes less votes and a lower percentage of the total to win. A candidate
\ncan win a crowded primary field with less than 40 percent, or even far less than 30 percent of the total votes cast.<\/p>\n

Vote Splitting can Favor Extremist Politicians<\/p>\n

<\/strong>According to The Center for Election Sciences, for elections involving seats
\nto the U.S. House of Representatives from 2010 thru 2020, “Out of the 427
\nnew members who won primary challenges . . . 38% . . . earned less than 40%
\nof ballots cast.”<\/p>\n

Data provided by Rank the Vote provides important insight into this issue.
\nOn January 6, 2021 in the U.S. Congress, the infamous vote was conducted to
\noverturn the results of a fair presidential election. Eighty-one (81) of the
\nmembers of the U.S. House of Representatives who voted against certifying a
\nfair election had each entered Congress by winning their primary election
\nwith less than a majority of the votes cast. And 62 of these
\nHouse of Representative members won their primary election with less than
\n40 percent of the votes cast.<\/p>\n

Thus, well over 60 percent of the voters in the election districts of these members of the U.S House of Representatives voted against each of these 62
\nindividuals.<\/p>\n

Extremist Politicians use Vote Splitting in Gerrymandered Districts
\n<\/strong>
\nIn gerrymandered districts, when there is a large field of primary
\ncandidates with similar views, an aggressive and extremist politician is
\nable to stand out. And with a crowded field of candidates splitting the
\nvotes, a primary election can be won by an extremist politician favoring
\nautocratic laws and policies that stands out from the field and who only
\nneeds to obtain a relatively low percentage of voter support.<\/p>\n

As a result of the increase in gerrymandering, the number of districts where
\nthe majority political party has dominant control have significantly
\nexpanded during the past decade. Candidates in the minority party have
\nlittle chance of winning the general election in a gerrymandered district
\nthat has been intentionally structured through wrongful map drawing to
\ninsure the majority party’s victory.<\/p>\n

As the example above involving the 62 U.S. House of Representative members
\nconfirms, there have been many anti-democratic, extremist politicians who
\nhave used the deliberate strategy to run in a crowded primary election field
\nin a district that has been gerrymandered by the majority party. They know
\nthat winning the majority party’s primary election, even with a low
\npercentage of the total votes cast, almost always guarantees winning the
\ngeneral election.<\/p>\n

Voting Reforms will Thwart Anti-Democratic, Extremist Politicians<\/strong><\/p>\n

Current efforts with Senate Bill 137 by anti-democratic, extremist
\npoliticians in the Ohio Legislature aimed at banning Ranked-Choice Voting
\nare designed to limit the power and choices of Ohio voters and to retain
\ngerrymandered election districts.<\/p>\n

Voting reforms that end gerrymandering, such as an Ohio Independent
\nRedistricting Commission (that is planned on the ballot in November, 2024),
\nwill force anti-democratic, extremist politicians to run in districts where
\nthe outcome of the general election is not predetermined. \u00a0They will no
\nlonger benefit from rigged election district maps that insure victory by the
\npolitical party that drew the map.<\/p>\n

And voting reforms such as Ranked-Choice Voting (that favor candidates with
\nbroader voter appeal) will combine with reforms to end gerrymandered
\nelection districts that will both assist to Protect Democracy’s Future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, why is Ohio Senate Bill 137 set to ban RCV? By DemocracyIssues.com, an Ohio-based Voter Rights initiative A small group of Ohio politicians are leading an anti-democratic effort that continues to take away voting rights of targeted segments of citizens in order to increase their own power and control of State government. This is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[189],"class_list":["post-9411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9412,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9411\/revisions\/9412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9411"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=9411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}