Voter Choice Reform Soars in UK, US

International

On May 6, British voters will go the polls in a hotly contested election with three major parties -- but in a American-style plurality voting system built for two. The incumbent Labour government may return to power while finishing third in the popular vote, while Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats are likely to win far fewer seats than their 25%-30% of the vote would suggest. Two of the three parties are committed to changing UK electoral rules to ranked choice / alternative voting rules that accommodate voter choice -- and leading newspapers have suggested that voting be primarily based on securing such fairer outcomes.

In the United States, Florida governor Charlie Crist will seek the U.S. Senate as an independent, and major parties, newspapers and commentators are looking to voter choice reform.

LINKS:

FairVote's John Anderson in Washington Post

Watch Bill Maher and Jesse Ventura espouse IRV

Watch leading Minnesota Democrats (including endorsement winner  Margaret Anderson Kelliher starting at 1' 29") support IRV

Rick Hertzberg on British elections

Guardian (UK) on voting to win PR

Guardian (UK) on ending tactical voting with IRV

Independent (UK editorial on voting for real change)

FairVote twitter with ongoing news

 

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