by Jack Santucci
All posts related to politics.
I just discovered several papers on the determinants of ballot invalidity (informal voting) in Australia. Two recent conversations prompted me to look for these. The overarching issue is whether an invalid ballot reflects confusion or protest voting. You can find the papers in my reference list. The answer seems to be: both but more of the latter, especially among young people dissatisfied with the party system.
Read more…
Next month, Portland (OR) will announce the winners of its first elections under the single transferable vote (STV), AKA proportional ranked-choice voting. The effort to adopt this reform was, in part, an effort to make city council as diverse as the population it serves.
Will it? Or are other reforms the way to go? Time will tell, but here are some observations in the interim.
Read more…Portland (OR) journalist Maja Harris has an interesting post about the surfeit of candidates running in the city’s first STV elections. Does the experience so far reflect the perspective I built to understand Progressive Era adoptions of the same?
Read more…Students are asking, so I feel obligated to compile my thoughts. Voting on this begins soon.
Read more…This post’s purpose is to put down thoughts related to a conversation I had last night. One point concerns the defense of parties. Another concerns the nature and explanation of the two-party system.
