rough draft of joint trifold handout (long!)
Linde Knighton
Linde
Washington
Independents
(Picture of George Washington ?)
Imagine Washington with enough respect for your choices as an Independent Voter, that you can learn about every candidate for every office, keep your Independence, and save money too.
Here's how:
Primaries are supposed to narrow the field so that you have only a few choices left, as a step to your final choice. Often you want to vote for one candidate, because that is the one you actually like, but don't dare in case another one you can't stand might win.
Plus, the parties want to restrict who gets to vote in their primary.
There are ways to solve this problem, and save up to a million and a half dollars per year of your money.
Two different remedies can be used, depending on what the state legislature is willing to pass. Both save tax money by doing away with the primary by doing it all on one ballot.
The first is Ranked Choice Voting (also known as Instant Runoff Voting), which has been in use in Pierce County.
This eliminates the Spoiler Effect, and allows Independents to vote for any candidate they like without having to declare a party preference.
All you do is rank the candidates for any one office in the order of your preference. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, then the candidate with the least votes is dropped from the count, but your vote is recycled to your next choice. This keeps happening, like sports playoffs on fast forward, until one candidate gets more than 50% of the vote.
The other method is to add a Second Choice line on the ballot.
If there are more than two candidates for any office, you choose your favorite, then write in the name of your second choice for the office. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, every candidate's first and second choice votes are added together. The candidate with the highest total wins.
One of the problems with the current system is that candidates can say they prefer a party, but the voter has no way to know if that party even likes that candidate. Adding a line to the voter's pamphlet saying if a party endorses or does not endorse a candidate allows the Independent voter to know if a party label means anything in that race.
By requiring large numbers of signatures only for Independent and Independent Party candidates, the state can add an unfair burden to these candidates.
You may have noticed that it is very hard for you to find out about Independent or Independent Party candidates from the media, or even from debates or forums. Bruce Guthrie, a senate candidate from the Libertarian Party had to sell his house to qualify to be in the televised debate for senator. Aaron Dixon, of the Green Party, was arrested for entering the studio, even though he was a bone fide candidate for that office. We need to put pressure on the media to include all candidates for an office in debates, forums, or news stories.
How You Can Help:
Write letters to the editor of newspapers demanding coverage of all candidates. Write local television stations complaining if they exclude candidates from debates or forums. They can get in trouble with the FCC if they are too obvious in their political leanings.
Join our email blast club to get notices about upcoming legislation you should know about, and to find out about parties and candidates needing your signatures. This will NOT represent any one party.
Lean on your state legislators to make the changes that will show respect for you and your choices.
_____________________________
Email Blast Club
Just send in your name and current email. There is no membership fee. This is not about fundraising. We will send you emails only when there are bills, lawsuits or other information you need to protect your rights to remain Independent.
Paid for by:
American Heritage Party
PO Box 241, Leavenworth, WA 98826
con...@ahparty.org
Constitution Party
PO Box 11227, Tacoma, WA 98411
con...@constituionpartyofwa.com
Green Party of Washington
PO Box 70515, Seattle, WA 98127
wagr...@gmail.com
Libertarian Party
15831 NE 8th, Ste 210, PO Box 7118, Bellevue, WA 98009
office-...@lpwa.org
Progressive Party of Washington
PO Box 1034, Puyallup, WA 98371
wap...@gmail.com
k.mhu...@yahoo.com
Linde, Thank you and everyone who's been working in these issues. This is the culmination of hours of hard work and I hope Washington appreciates it. I'm a new kid on the block so I hope I'm not stepping over my bounds. I did go over the pamphlet copy you sent out and really like the whole idea of having a handout to explain the issues and solutions. I updated the address for the Constitution Party and did some playing around with the words of the pamphlet. I only formatted it so I could see it better when I was working with it. Hope it helps out some.
Karen Murray Constitution Party of Washington
PS: Did we ever come up with an official name for the third party coalition?
Imagine Washington with respect for your choices as an Independent Voter. Imagine a Washington election in which you can learn about every candidate for every office, keep your Independence, allow the political parties to preserve their integrity by endorsing a particular candidate, and save money too. The Third Party Coalition of Washington has been working hard to prepare the following solutions to these problems.
Political parties also have a valid concern that they maintain their philosophical integrity by having some control over candidates who claim to represent their point of view. The current system does not allow for party endorsements in the voter’s pamphlet.
The number of signatures required for ballot access is also in favor of the two major political parties. More signatures are required of independent and third party candidates than are required of major party candidates.
The current election system denies equal access to media, debates, and forums for independent and third party candidates.
The Solutions
Ranked Choice Voting
This method is also known as Instant Runoff Voting and is the method used by Pierce County. · You the voter, rank each candidate for any one office in order of preference, 1 being the first choice, 2 the second choice, etc. · If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, then the candidate with the least number of votes is dropped from the count, but your vote is recycled to your next choice. |
· This keeps happening, like sports playoffs on fast forward, until one candidate gets more than 50% of the vote. |
In this method, a blank Second Choice line is added to the ballot on which the voter can write the name of his or her second choice. · If there are more than two candidates for any office, you choose your favorite, and then write in the name of your second choice for the office. |
· If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, every candidate's first and second choice votes are added together. |
· The candidate with the highest total wins. |
Party Endorsements
In both of the above solutions, the Third Party Coalition proposes that a line be added to the voter’s pamphlet stating whether or not a particular party endorses or does not endorse a particular candidate, allowing the voter to know if a party label means anything in that particular race.
Equal Access to the Media, Debates and other Forums.
Third party and independent candidates are often denied equal access to media, debates and other forums. Voters often complain that they have no real choice because they are not made aware of other candidates. This discrepancy often drives candidates to extreme measure to get their message out. Bruce Guthrie, a senate candidate from the Libertarian Party had to sell his house to qualify to be in the televised debate for senator. Aaron Dixon, of the Green Party, was arrested for entering the studio, even though he was a bone fide candidate for that office. We need to put pressure on the media to provide equal access for all candidates for any office in debates, forums, or news stories.
|
· Write letters to the editor of newspapers demanding coverage of all candidates. |
· Write local television stations complaining if candidates are excluded from debates or forums. The FCC can take disciplinary action against stations who are too obvious in their political leanings. |
· Join our email blast club to get notices about upcoming legislation you should know about, and to find out about parties and candidates needing your signatures. This will NOT represent any one party. · Lean on your state legislators to make the changes that will show respect for you and your choices. |
Email Blast Club
|
|
Kent, Washington 98031 |
|
|
Linde Knighton
information for every party. PLEASE let me know if you have changes
for your party. We also need a central address or email for people to
join the Email Blast Club. Anyone willing to do that?
Plus, I talked to a number of people about a logo of some sort. What
do you think of a wild horse? It screams Independent to me.
Linde
k.mhuiri...@yahoo.com wrote:
> Linde,
> Thank you and everyone who's been working in these issues. This is the culmination of hours of hard work and I hope Washington appreciates it. I'm a new kid on the block so I hope I'm not stepping over my bounds. I did go over the pamphlet copy you sent out and really like the whole idea of having a handout to explain the issues and solutions. I updated the address for the Constitution Party and did some playing around with the words of the pamphlet. I only formatted it so I could see it better when I was working with it. Hope it helps out some.
>
> Karen Murray
> Constitution Party of Washington
>
> PS: Did we ever come up with an official name for the third party coalition?
>
>
>
>
>
Cary THOMAS
++++++++++
Second Choice Line
In this method, a blank Second Choice line is added to the ballot on which the voter can write the name of his or her second choice.
· If there are more than two candidates for any office, you choose your favorite, and then write in the name of your second choice for the office.
When you add the first and second choice votes, which candidate are they assigned to?
Does this mean adding first to first, second to second, or first to second?
-------------------------------
Here are some minor edits I have made to other parts of this ...
http://docs.google.com/View?id=d7j2mv8_50fs2gw2mf
Cary Thomas, West Seattle
Libertarian
++ Your government recommends -- WORK HARDER!!! Millions of people on welfare depend on you!!! And those new BAILOUTS are expensive!!! ++
Demand Liberty - http://www.campaignforliberty.com/user/FreeRangeAuthor/
Linde Knighton
appropriate at times.
Larry has 25 of the votes as a first choice.
Moe has 30
Curly has 20
Shemp has 22
(some people skipped the race)
In an ordinary election, Moe would win, even though 67% of the people
did not want him.
Lets look at their second choice:
Larry has 20
Moe has 15
Curly has 25
Shemp has 43
So, added together, Larry has 45
Moe has 45
Curly has 47
and Shemp has 63
So Shemp won under this system. It is not as good as IRV, but if we
can't sell IRV, and we can sell this, it is still better than what we
have.
Linde
> > PO Box 11227, Tacoma, WA 98411
> > PO Box 70515, Seattle, WA 98127
> > 15831 NE 8th, Ste 210, PO Box 7118, Bellevue, WA 98009
> > PO Box 1034, Puyallup, WA 98371
> --
> ++ Your government recommends -- WORK HARDER!!! Millions of people on
> welfare depend on you!!! And those new BAILOUTS are expensive!!! ++
>
>
> - Show quoted text -
Mar Rho
Hi Linde;
Cute! You explain this well here; however, some people may not like that this system does not distinguish between first and second choice votes.
Marjorie
--- On Thu, 7/23/09, Linde Knighton <wap...@gmail.com> wrote:
Karen Murray
Maybe add the example like this.
Second Choice Line
With this method, a blank Second Choice line is added to the ballot on which the voter can write the name of his or her second choice. If there are more than two candidates for any office, the voter can choose his or her favorite, and then write in the name of his or her second choice for the same office. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, every candidate's first and second choice votes are added together. The candidate with the highest total wins. For example, suppose that the Three Stooges are running for Mayor.
Larry received 25% of the votes as a first choice, Moe received 30%,
Curly received 20%,
and Shemp received 22%.
Under the current election rules, Moe would win, even though 67% of the people clearly did not want him.
Let's look at their second choice rankings: Larry has 20%, Moe has 15%, Curly has 25%, Shemp has 43%. Now add together first choice votes and second choice votes. So, added together,
Larry now has 45%,
Moe now has 45% Curly now has 47% and Shemp now has 63% Under this system, Shemp wins, and more accurately reflects the will of the people.
I love this analogy! |
|
Karen Murray
Constitution Party of Washington
|
Rachel H. for LPWA Communications
Thank you for all your hard work on this. I think it looks great.
I took Karen's edit, and made just a couple of tiny ones - I highlighted them. Thank you, Karen.
I highlighted "Third Party Coalition" because I think we're Independent Voter _____? Someone else fix that, please?
You all have a gentle day . . . :o)
Act In Liberty,
Rachel Hawkridge
Chair, Libertarian Party of Washington
Libertarian National Committee
Region 7 Representative
Office Hours: When aren't I here?
206.769.2492 cel
www.LNCRegion7.blogspot.com
"An Ye Harm None, Do As Ye Will . . ." Wiccan Creed
Linde,
Thank you and everyone who's been working in these issues. This is the culmination of hours of hard work and I hope Washington appreciates it. I'm a new kid on the block so I hope I'm not stepping over my bounds. I did go over the pamphlet copy you sent out and really like the whole idea of having a handout to explain the issues and solutions. I updated the address for the Constitution Party and did some playing around with the words of the pamphlet. I only formatted it so I could see it better when I was working with it. Hope it helps out some.
Karen Murray
Constitution Party of Washington
PS: Did we ever come up with an official name for the third party coalition?
Imagine Washington with respect for your choices as an Independent Voter. Imagine a Washington election in which you can learn about every candidate for every office, keep your Independence, allow the political parties to preserve their integrity by endorsing a particular candidate, and save money too. The Third Party Coalition of Washington has been working hard to prepare the following solutions to these problems.
The Issues
Primaries are designed to narrow the field from a large number of candidates for any given office, as a step to the final choice in the general election. The two major political parties within the state have tried to limit the Primary in such a way that only supporters of those two parties can vote in the Primary. This has the effect of disenfranchising Independent and Third-party voters, or force those voters to make a choice between the candidate that best represents their beliefs and a candidate that has a greater chance to defeat a third candidate they may feel is detrimental to their cause.
Political parties also have a valid concern that they maintain their philosophical integrity by having some control over candidates who claim to represent their point of view. The current system does not allow for party endorsements in the voter’s pamphlet.
The number of signatures required for ballot access is also in favor of the two major political parties. More signatures are required of independent and third party candidates than are required of major party candidates.
The current election system denies equal access to media, debates, and forums for independent and third party candidates.
The Solutions
There are ways to solve these problems, and to save over a million dollars per year of your money. Two different remedies have been proposed to the state legislature by a coalition of third parties in Washington. Both save your tax money by merging the Primary with the general election while still accomplishing the goal of selecting a candidate by the voice of the people in a free and open forum.
Ranked Choice Voting
This method is also known as Instant Runoff Voting and is the method used by Pierce County.
It eliminates the Spoiler Effect, by allowing Independents to vote for any candidate they like without having to declare a party preference.· You the voter, rank each candidate for any one office in order of preference, 1 being the first choice, 2 the second choice, etc.
· If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, then the candidate with the least number of votes is dropped from the count, but your vote is recycled to your next choice.
· This keeps happening, like sports playoffs on fast forward, until one candidate gets more than 50% of the vote.
Second Choice Line
In this method, a blank Second Choice line is added to the ballot on which the voter can write the name of his or her second choice.
· If there are more than two candidates for any office, you choose your favorite, and then write in the name of your second choice for the office.
· If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, every candidate's first and second choice votes are added together.· The candidate with the highest total wins.
Party Endorsements
In both of the above solutions, the Third Party Coalition proposes that a line be added to the voter’s pamphlet stating whether or not a particular party endorses or does not endorse a particular candidate, allowing the voter to know if a party label means anything in that particular race.
Equal Access to the Media, Debates and other Forums.
Third party and independent candidates are often denied equal access to media, debates and other forums. Voters often complain that they have no real choice because they are not made aware of other candidates. This discrepancy often drives candidates to extreme measure to get their message out. Bruce Guthrie, a senate candidate from the Libertarian Party had to take out a mortgage on his house to qualify to be in the televised debate for senator. Aaron Dixon, of the Green Party, was arrested for entering the studio, even though he was a bone fide candidate for that office. We need to put pressure on the media to provide equal access for all candidates for any office in debates, forums, or news stories.
How You Can Help· Write letters to the editor of newspapers demanding coverage of all candidates.· Write local television stations complaining if candidates are excluded from debates or forums. The FCC can take disciplinary action against stations who are too obvious in their political leanings.
· Join our email blast club to get notices about upcoming legislation you should know about, and to find out about parties and candidates needing your signatures. This will NOT represent any one party.· Lean on your state legislators to make the changes that will show respect for you and your choices.
Email Blast Club
Just send in your name and current email. There are no membership fees. This is not about fundraising. We will send you emails only when there are bills, lawsuits or other information you need to protect your rights to remain Independent.
Paid for by:
American Heritage Party
PO Box 241, Leavenworth, WA 98826
con...@ahparty.org
Constitution Party of Washington
10605 SE 240th Street, PMB 135
Kent, Washington 98031
con...@constitutionpartyofwa.com <= I changed this - it was wrong - RH
Green Party of Washington
PO Box 70515, Seattle, WA 98127
wagr...@gmail.com
Libertarian Party of Washington
10522 Lake City Way NE Ste. C-103, Seattle, WA 98125
Ch...@lpwa.org
Karen Murray
Thanks Rachel!
The Constitution Party of Washington changed its email to cont...@constitutionpartyofwa.com a little while ago. Thanks for noticing a change! I can't remember what I wrote down. Some days are plum scatter-brained.
Karen Murray
CPWA
Communications Director
--- On Fri, 7/24/09, Rachel H. for LPWA Communications <lpwa...@gmail.com> wrote: |
|
Rachel H. for LPWA Communications
I had just replaced a missing "t" - it said constituion . . . :o)
Act In Liberty,
Rachel Hawkridge
Chair, Libertarian Party of Washington
Libertarian National Committee
Region 7 Representative
Office Hours: When aren't I here?
206.769.2492 cel
www.LNCRegion7.blogspot.com
"An Ye Harm None, Do As Ye Will . . ." Wiccan Creed