[GPSCC-chat] News from Fair Vote

[Gerry Gras]

Here is part of an email from Fair Vote ( http://fairvote.org ).

I find the second paragraph amusing.

But North Carolina is having the first statewide RCV,
(third paragraph)???  As a damn Yankee, remembering
that Jesse Helms was from North Carolina, I am surprised
by that.  Why North Carolina?

Gerry


==========================


But there's a special reason for those of you who want to be a part of 
California electoral reform history. Four Bay Area cities (San 
Francisco, Oakland, San Leandro and Berkeley) are having hotly contested 
elections with ranked choice voting (RCV), also called instant runoff 
voting). At least one more (San Jose) is seriously considering putting 
RCV on the ballot in the next couple years.

Meanwhile, major elections around the country demonstrate why it's time 
for our politics to evolve to accommodate more voter choice. Several 
races for U.S. Senate and governor (see FairVote's "non-majority rule" 
blog) have three candidates polling over 10%. The major party candidates 
in fact have become the dreaded "spoilers" in Colorado and Florida, with 
the New York Times reporting that former president Bill Clinton 
campaigned for Democrat Kendrick Meek in his U.S. Senate race in Florida 
- and then asked him to drop out so that independent Charlie Crist would 
have a better chance to win.

Fortunately, we're helping to make ranked choice voting a bigger 
national story - and real option for our elections. See this piece in 
Newsweek magazine and an excellent new commentary by former Vermont 
governor and presidential candidate Howard Dean. Find out more about the 
nation's first-ever statewide general election with RCV in North Carolina.


========================