From a June 10 Press Herald story about the Charter Commission election (“Vote shifts Portland’s political landscape,” Page A1), we find this quote – “The race also dramatically showed how ranked-choice voting can upend multi-seat races, allowing one voting bloc to shut out minority voting blocs, limiting the diversity of perspectives.”
In other words, ranked-choice voting worked exactly as those who imposed it on us intended. A candidate with 21.1 percent of the vote lost to a candidate with 4.2 percent of the vote.
The hurdle imposed by ranked-choice voting is simple. A candidate from a minority party must get votes from members of the majority party in order to win. But the converse is not true. Candidates from the majority party can win without any minority-party votes. Ranked-choice voting makes it nearly impossible for minority-party candidates to win. We just proved that.
The proponents of ranked-choice voting will defend it to the bitter end as necessary and fair. The Republican legislatures in Texas, Florida, Georgia and two dozen other red states have enacted voting laws they believe are necessary and fair. Both sides have done this to influence the outcome of elections by suppressing minority voting blocs. Neither side should be kidding itself thinking this is right.
Wayne W. Duffett
Portland
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