Hah I remember that shit. BC just isn't as progressive as the island wants it to be.

The recent electoral reform referendum was for mixed member which is quite a bit different than ranked choice. I think it mainly failed due to (somewhat reasonable) fears of fringe parties gaining power. This was just after Trump was elected and Radical right wing groups were making gains around the world.

more 'n more, i think the idea of sunshining fascist fuckos (or, more specifically, letting fascist fuckos sunshine themselves), ain't a bad thing, long-term. i'm terrified about the state of the world right now 'n all, because FUUUUUUCK, but on the other hand, i'm just optimistic enough to think that, y'know, nazis are the minority and if we let 'em embarass themselves enough while preventing them from genocidal hobbies, eh, maybe we can hold em off for another half-or-even-whole century? this message of conditional optimism brought to you by cheap vodka

more vodka than will allow proof-reading

If the voting system is fair and people want to vote for fringe parties - isn't that what should happen?

yes, jf, it certainly is!

this message brought to you by ginger green tea accompanying a floaty-head feeling

Another alternative system (which we actually used for our Board of Directors elections at a hippie lefty bicycle co-op) is what I call "Approval Voting". For each candidate, you can either approve or not approve. The candidate with the most approval wins.

If it was used for public elections it would pretty much turn into an "anti-vote" system (approve of everyone except who you hate the most) but honestly that's better than single-vote plurality.

jfcron, I mostly agree with you, but I'm just saying why I thought the referendum was dead in the water. There was a _lot_ of anxiety in the air about fringe groups holding the centerist parties hostage.

Also, I love approval voting, mostly because it would work so seemlessly with our current system while being a massive improvement.

I concur!