I am a huge proponent for voting. I think that everyone should vote if they are legally allowed to. I think that all people that can vote should educate themselves about what is on their ballot before voting and not just blanket vote for a party or for other items without some knowledge.
I am new to Idaho as you all know. I just registered to vote here in Idaho as well (wrote about that already also). With the election coming up I have noticed a few campaign signs here and there for people which is not surprising. And I have noticed a couple “VOTE NO on Prop 1 ‘Don’t turn us into California'” signs as well. I certainly don’t agree with all the politics in California so I was curious as to what prop 1 is.
Well, Prop 1 is to change the way people get elected here in Idaho. Idaho is very traditional (current traditional as you will read later) in that you can vote for a democrat or republican or other, but there will always be at least one of each, democrat or republican, on the final official ballot as long as someone from that politcal party is running. That is normal. I grew up with that. It makes sense, but that may be because that is what I have been used t my entire life.
Prop 1 wants to change it to a ranked election. Basically what happens is that all the candidates get votes, and the one that gets the most wins, and the person that comes in second also advances if it is a primary, and if there are more spaces then those also advance to the next round. So, if there are 3 democrats, 5 republicans, and a few other party people running then whomever gets the most votes from any of those moves onto the next round. Which means you could end up with a republican against a republican or a democrat against at green party or some other combination for a senate seat during the final election process.
This sounds a lot like the way things were done when the country was first being formed. So isn’t this the actual traditional way that the USA did things and as party affiliation took over then the voting process changed to what it is now in most areas of the country?
There is a kind of weird thing though that I read about with regard to this proposition. There is also built into this something where you may be able to rank your choices 1-#, and then if your top choice doesn’t get the most votes then your #2 choice jumps to the #1 slot and gets your vote, and then down the line through your choices. I am not sure I like this idea. I would rather get my one vote and if that person gets enough great and if not oh well. The ranking and stuff, to me, sounds like a great way to complicate things and create a whole pile of ————- when it comes to final votes and whether the votes were counted correctly. I see a lot of potential issues with this part.
But the ranked voting… I am not sure I disagree with the concept. I don’t know enough about Idaho to know if it will matter. The area strikes me as very republican so I would like that the far right would like this option becuase then there would be no democrats making it to the final vote at times. But I think some are concerned with the increase in people moving from California to Idaho changing the political spectrum enough that it could cause a problem. Similar things have occurred in Arizona already where Phoenix and Tucson areas have had a huge California influx over the last 20 years and now those areas tend to lean more left than right at times, and the rest of the state doesn’t have enough people who vote to sway it the other way.
But this going back to what I said at the beginning in that if you can vote, and can vote with thought, you should vote. Then you can’t complain about why the other person won. If you did your part then sometimes you don’t get what you want, but if you don’t vote then there is no reason you can complain since you did contribute.
So, what do you think about this concept of ranked voting? I am on the fence honestly. I am going to need to read more about it before I can make a finally decision. It may come down to this additional ranking option for me – I really don’t like that concept.