Per a recent Gallup poll, a plurality – 42 percent – of the American people do not identify with either of the two dominant political parties. Why, then, are almost all elected candidates only from the two major political parties?
Could it be that we have a representative government that doesn’t accurately represent people?
We need ranked-choice voting. Our republican democracy needs an update. The simple fact is, our archaic voting system does not well or fairly handle multiple-candidate elections.
Are the two dominant parties so afraid that the majority may disagree with them that they would deny their fellow citizens reasonable access to the election process? Can the two parties be trusted to provide us candidates who we really want to vote for? Enough of the lesser of two evils!
Are we not a nation of we, the people? Do we still believe in government by the consent of the governed? Should the plurality of the people be essentially ignored in every election, only allowed to pick candidates from the two parties or be relegated to choosing spoilers and being accused of “throwing our vote away”?
Ranked-choice voting protects the integrity of the parties in the primary process as well. With multiple candidates from both parties running for governor, we need a system that allows us to express a preference in a large field of candidates.
Our archaic voting method didn’t handle multiple-candidate elections well in the 1800s, leading to the crisis that changed the state constitution in 1880, and it still doesn’t now. The people of Maine, from all political backgrounds, spoke clearly when the majority chose ranked-choice voting.
Our elected officials need to do their job and make the change necessary to the Maine Constitution to preserve government of the people, by the people, for the people – all the people.
M.D. “Mitch” Mitchell
Scarborough
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