A response to recent comments on the “Additive ranked ballot” voting system:
I see a couple of issues with that system. For one thing, it doesn’t guarantee a majority winner, since no one is eliminated. And there’s the problem of how it treats the subordinate votes. If no majority in the first count, #2 choices are added. If still no majority, #3 choices are added, and so forth, continuing with #4 and #5 choices. So in the final count, the system gives a #5 choice the same weight as a #1 choice. And here comes the irony: With, say, five candidates, a voter who gives a “5” rank to a candidate really means, “No, never that person!” It’s not a vote in favor, but the #5 vote is happily added in, so that candidate no.5 – the one nobody wants – can win with a bunch of #5 rankings, since they count equal to #1 rankings. That would be a travesty of an election.
The Ranked Choice Voting scheme is very easy to explain and understand. It was often used in political conventions years ago, when the candidates were chosen in the convention. If there were 5 nominees, they would take a show of hands and eliminate the one getting the fewest hands. Then they do the same with the 4 remaining. And so forth, until there are 2, where you would normally get a winner. RCV does exactly that, only you mark your ballot ranking all 5 at the beginning. Very simple.
