Are many of you voting Republican out of fear that the Democrats will win?  Are many of you voting Democrat out of fear that the Republicans will win?

 As I studied the candidates for my state’s elections, I found myself seriously considering Independent candidates, and even those from the party I oppose.  Ultimately, however, I decided I couldn’t risk ‘wasting’ my vote, or seeing the wrong party come to power.  In the run-up to the 2006 midterms, I see too many people voting out of party loyalty—not out of respect for their candidates, but out of fear of the opposing party.  And we deserve better.

 I think it’s time to implement Condorcet voting.  I’m certain that this isn’t a new idea to many of you, but for those of you who don’t know, Condorcet is a lot like runoff voting—but without many of the drawbacks commonly associated with that system.  Basically, you vote for candidates in your order of preference.  Even if your favorite candidate (perhaps an unpopular candidate who best represents your views) doesn’t receive enough votes to win, the system will still know that you prefer your second-place candidate (perhaps your party’s favorite choice) over your last-place candidate (perhaps the opposing party’s favorite choice). A far better explanation can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condorcet_method#Basic_procedure.  The end result is that you can vote for any candidate you truly like, without throwing the election to the opposition.

 As I see it, a Condorcet method would take some power away from both parties, and put it back in the hands of voters.  And as our voting preferences are seen at the polls, it might encourage Democrats and Republicans to produce candidates who better represent our beliefs.

 I’m certainly no political activist, but I know many of you are deeply interested in public policy, and some of you are involved in government.  I’d like to know what you think—can we get this on a ballot initiative somewhere?  Does anyone think this isn’t a good idea?