San Francisco, along with many other cities around the world has started using instant runoff voting. This style of choosing a winner is very different than the plurality, borda count, or Condorcet method that can be used. As an example I live in Granite City, IL and we still have plurality voting for many local elections. When I take part in an election I will go into the polling place and choose one candidate on the ballot. On the contrary, this is not the case in San Francisco. When attending a polling place in San Francisco the voters are asked to rank order candidates on a basis of one to three. Candidate number one being the most preferred and candidate number three being the least preferred candidate. In doing this it allows the …show more content…
The article was on the view that instant runoff voting would not be beneficial for the city of San Francisco. It criticized that the general public will put their favorite officials first, and then second choice second, and third choice last. That seems like the logical thing to do, but may result in the most preferred candidate losing. The article hinted at the idea that more educated people that understand the method will manipulate their ballot in a way that will benefit them. An example of this would be if they knew that a candidate was favored so they put them last. The voter did this to ensure that when the columns of ballot got moved over after a round that in the final tally the favored candidate would not receive another vote. Democratic political consultant Jim Stearns said, “This is the Green Party using San Francisco as an experiment or stepping stone in a grand national strategy for ranked choice voting” (Ostrom 2004, 1b). This was a bold statement pertaining to the new ranked choice voting system implemented in San Francisco. Historically in the general publics eye Democrats represent the middle class and Republicans represent the higher social class. That being said for a Democratic political consultant to be a critic intrigued me. In the December 2001 election of San Francisco 3 million dollars were spend running the
I read an interesting article in our local newspaper, The Panolian. The article was written by the editor of the paper, John Howell. Mr. Howell is a great writer. He lives in Batesville, Mississippi some of the time, Mr. Howell’s article was about the upcoming election for several positions in Panola County. In August we will be voting for Sheriff, Supervisors, and Justice Court. In Mississippi we have an open primary. Open Primary means that Democrats, Republicans, and Independents can vote for the candidate of their choice. Voting is very important. It is a privilege to be able to vote for the person you think can best represent your views and values. Mr. Howell give us a politics 101, crash course in voting and the electoral system. Although
With Mark Strama stepping down from his seat in Texas’ House District 50, it called for a special election this past November. With a seat now open in the House and a Democratic incumbent, three different Democrats and a Republican campaigned long and hard for the seat. Almost a century later, we can still assess Max Weber’s Politics as a Vocation and find connections in his analysis to contemporary politics. Working as a campaign intern during the three months before the election for Jade Chang Sheppard, a successful businesswoman and mother of two, the connections to leadership, an appeal to followers, and challenging power instincts still remain prevalent characteristics of a modern-day politician. Looking to Jade’s own successful and
Undoubtedly, the last 80 years have brought the biggest change to the election process - polling. Beginning with the Gallup poll in 1936, the industry has become a titanic business, growing unregulated by the United States government. Frequently, polls have come under fire for their inaccuracy, or for their role in blocking the Democratic process (the 2000 and 2004 elections come to mind). Nonetheless, the 1992 election was not notable because of alleged bias, but because of what the polls said about
The Election of 1800 was notably to be of the most significant elections in American history of governmental evolvement. It marked once power struggle to a astonishing transfer of power from one party to another in national government; this transfer of power was also accomplished in a non-violent and organized fashion, which marked the evolving maturity of the nation's first system of political parties . The election was a party contest for control of the national government and for determining the direction and management of national policy. This election was the first time both parties used congressional caucuses to nominate candidates for their ballots which was a never heard of occurrence in that day and age. This specific election also made second history in the first, as it was the first presidential election to be decided in the House of Representatives.
In John Fund’s reflection, the Department of Investigation went through a procedure to see how easy it was to commit voter fraud. The DOI had sent out agents to show up at 63 polling places all who “pretended to be voters who should have been turned away by election officials; the agents assumed names of individuals who had died or moved out of town, or who were sitting in jail. 61 instances, or 97 percent of the time, the testers were allowed to vote.” (Fund, pg 353) After gathering this evidence that voter fraud was possible and way easier than it seemed, they published a report which accused the city’s Board of Elections voting
The midterm elections in Texas were something very big this year. This year was the year that the current governor, Rick Perry, would not seek a fourth term. Greg Abbott, real name, Gregory Wayne Abbott, won the midterm election for governor and will take office in January 20, 2015.
It doesn’t take a political expert to see that the 2000 presidential election between Bush and Gore was extremely illegitimate. This can be observed through the recount incident which took place in the state of Florida. Many people, especially seniors, felt that they had not voted for the right candidate, which was due to a confusing ballot setup. The ballots were called “butterfly ballots”. These ballots, as one could imagine, had candidates on either side which the voter could choose from. Seems simple enough, right? Unfortunately, that was not the case. The font on the ballots were extremely minuscule, as well as condensed. To add to that, the voter had to use a pin to make a puncture next to their selection. Some people, who were either
The presidential election of 1860 set the stage for the American Civil war. By 1860, the nation had been divided mostly up to that point regarding questions of states’ rights and slavery in the territories. Southerners were outraged over the plan by abolitionist, John Brown, to start a slave rebellion at Harper Ferry, Virginia. This event garnered headlines all over the nation in newspapers and magazines. On the other hand, the Northern Republic seemed equally anger by the Supreme Court decision in the case of Dred Scott v. Stanford, which declared free soil unconstitutional. The Northern Democrats, however, struggled to persuade the Americans that their policy of popular sovereignty still made since.
In this year's presidential election, many voters dislike both the democratic and republican nominee. As such, the democrats in states that are almost guaranteed blued states have elected to trade their votes for someone voting for an independent candidate in a swing state. This "strategic" plan, once used before in the 2000 election when Bush ran against Al Gore, allows people's votes in non-swing states to have an effect on the election. While this strategy makes sense in theory, it completely contradicts and cheats the electoral college and all of the people who have decided to vote fairly in their own state.
Most local elections in California are nonpartisan. A nonpartisan election is an election in which the parties of the candidates are not printed on the ballots. Although the candidates may identify with one of the political parties, their preference is not shown on the ballot during the election. This causes candidates to have to work harder for their votes and make their agendas known to the public rather than relying on their political party to get them elected. In order for politicians to move up in the political ladder, they must have contributed greatly to their local office and have a decent resume to get them through. In a partisan election, candidates may be able to rely on his or her partisanship to get them elected. For example in a largely democratic area, a candidate may simply be elected just because his name is next to the word democrat on the ballot. This in turn strengthens the parties role because that candidate would owe the party for his or her election. Since California holds nonpartisan elections, candidates owe nothing to the party for their success during an election. They are able to move up in politics based on the impact they had made during their previous role. Although a large amount of the state offices has partisan elections, by the time a candidate has made it to a state election they have made a name for themselves without relying on the party to speak for them. Therefore, even
Florida is a popular state when discussing political controversy. The media rushes to Florida during congressional and presidential elections due to its reputation as a conflicted state. Here we find the southern regions to be rather liberal and voting democratically, and on the other hand, we see the northern regions voting mostly conservatively. This creates controversy in the United States because Florida is a major determining factor of what kind of outcome we are going to get for a presidential election. This can be especially stressful for those running for office either presidentially or for the state specifically because they are unaware of their chances of gaining the states support and being elected into office.
The 1980 presidential election of the United States featured three primary candidates, Republican Ronald Reagan, Democrat Jimmy Carter and liberal Republican John Anderson. Ronald Reagan was the governor of California before he decided to run for the presidency. John Anderson was a representative in Illinois and Carter was the incumbent. The lengthy Iran hostage crisis sharpened public opinions by the beginning of the election season. In the 1970s, the United States were experiencing a straining episode of low economic growth, high price increases and interest rates and an irregular energy crisis. The sense of discomfort in both domestic and foreign affairs in the nation were heading downward, this added to the downward spiral that was already going on. Between Carter, Anderson and Reagan, the general election campaign of the 1980s seemed more concerned with shadowboxing around political issues rather than a serious discussion of the issues that concerned voters.
he would be able to end the war. "We will be able to end the war by a simple
The United States Presidential elections are often events that captivate and interest a number of people around the world. The 2000 U.S. presidential election was particularly notable for more than one reason. Certainly, the fact that an election year in the year 2000, the marking of the next millennium and next century, is significant in of itself. In addition, there were a number of critical issues facing the candidates in this election, as with any election. The role, presence, and influence of the United States media were additional factors that heightened the tension of the 2000 presidential election. The election itself was fraught with controversy. The Supreme Court had to be involved and render a ruling with respect to accusation of fraudulent vote counting. Overall, the 2000 United States Presidential Election is an election that is remembered for controversy, polarization of the American public, as well as issues of confusion and mistrust between the American public and the American government.
Douglas J. Futuyma on the limits of science: [[S]cience seeks to explain only objective knowledge], [knowledge that can be acquired independently by different investigators if they follow a prescribed course of observation or experiment]. [Many human experiences and concerns are not objective] and (so) [do not fall within the realm of science]. (As a result), **[science has nothing to say about aesthetics or morality]**….[The functioning of human society, then, clearly requires principles that stem from some source other than science.]