Election Reform

Matilda K. Williams Seminole, OK

Much has been written lately about the recent primary election that excluded Democrats from voting for county offices that should be non-partisan, like Sheriff. And still the Republicans mounted a poor voter turnout!

There are three simple electoral reforms that would restore fairness for the minority, security and enthusiasm for all, and cut costs. These are: 1. Open primaries; 2. Ranked Choice voting across the board; and 3. Final Five. More on these reforms later.

Why haven’t we seriously entertained electoral reforms before? Because both major parties opposed them.

George Washington in his Farewell Address warned against the growing power of political parties. He stated they were helpful in the case of promoting liberty in a monarchy but needed to be restrained in a popularly elected government system. Specifically, he said they distract the government from their duties, create unfounded jealousies, raise false alarms among the people, promote riots and insurrection, provide foreign nations and interests access to the government where they can impose their will upon the country, and “gradually incline the minds of men to seek security in the absolute power of one individual,” leading to despotism.

Sound familiar? And this was back in 1796, when the political parties were Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party which sided with the French Revolution, and Hamilton’s Federalist Party which sided with England vs France.

Today, people are depressed and discouraged by the polarization of the political parties. The minorities have no voice. Extremes dominate the primary elections in both parties. Elected officials pander to their donors and are afraid to vote for any measure opposed by the extremes of their party, even if it would be good for the country. Recent example, the Border Bill which had been developed by a bipartisan majority, would have brought the first major immigration reform since Reagan, provided funding for an adequate number of border patrol agents and judges to stem the flow of immigrants into the country. Trump – who is supposedly not in government – succeeded in getting all the Republicans, who helped write the bill, to turn against it, and not vote for it, because “it would make Biden look bad and be good for Trump’s campaign.” How did he do this? Well, if the prevailing pattern applies, they were afraid they would be “primaried,” faced with a MAGA challenger, for not being extreme enough to suit the extremes who dominate the Primary elections.

Oklahoma is usually glad Mississippi exists. Whatever social measure we are low on, like infant mortality, Mississippi is usually lower. However, there is one electoral reform Mississippi has enacted which is more advanced than our system: so-called “jungle primaries.” Everyone votes in every election for every candidate. This eliminates the domination of extremists, gives a voice to everyone, and supports elected officials to actually do what they were elected to do: serve the best public interest.

If we do no other election reform, we need to do this one.

Ranked Choice allows voters to rank the candidates in order of their approval of them. If they like someone in another party, but want to vote for their own party’s candidate as their first choice, they can vote for both candidates. It can be set up several ways. I prefer when it is set up so that voters can vote for as many or as few candidates as they like. If people do not like the new-fangled system, then just continue to vote for the one candidate of your choice. That is a strong vote in any ranked choice system.

And finally, some thought needs to be given to how to handle close votes. Final Two going on to the General Election yields about the same results as our present system. Alaska and other states have tried Final Three and Final Four, with mixed results. It seems an odd number insures against ties. Some think the right number is Final Five. This means there will be five candidates in the General, and no surprises like Independent or Libertarian candidates showing up who were not in the Primary because they were not part of the two-party system. It saves a lot of money in runoffs.

These are sensible reforms to fix what is ailing our polity now. Otherwise, we will see registrations and voter turnout continue to wane, more and more people leaving the two major parties and more spoiler candidates. Independents are already up to 17% of the electorate in the country.

You could also see people deciding Democracy is not working anymore and thinking that a dictator sounds about right for America.

It is up to us and there are options.