Eliminate the 3rd party "spoiler effect"
In last year's New Jersey gubernatorial election, Chris Christie was worried that Daggett would spoil his chances of being elected by taking away Christie votes. In a political novel, I fantasized that a rich person like Corzine just might be able to "plant" someone like Daggett in order to do just that. But fantasy or not, Chris Christie had valid concerns and, in looking at the problem, I saw that it was a simple matter to eliminate this problem--you merely let the voters vote twice.
If you let the voters vote for their top two candidates, no vote will go to waste. When all votes are tallied, If their first choice (let's say Daggett) falls into third place then, the voters who had a third place candidate as their second choice will have their "first choice" votes transferred to the top two candidates.
He's an example. If I voted for Daggett and Christie, and all the first choices tally as Corzine, Christie, and Daggett in third place, my second choice (Christie) gets assigned to Christie's tally. This allows voters to take a chance on an Independent and still be able to cast a vote for the top two parties.
This sounds difficult (it's certainly difficult to explain in just a few sentences) but, I assure you, it would be easy to implement and no one should feel miffed or slightly because every one has the opportunity to have their votes "count."
If you let the voters vote for their top two candidates, no vote will go to waste. When all votes are tallied, If their first choice (let's say Daggett) falls into third place then, the voters who had a third place candidate as their second choice will have their "first choice" votes transferred to the top two candidates.
He's an example. If I voted for Daggett and Christie, and all the first choices tally as Corzine, Christie, and Daggett in third place, my second choice (Christie) gets assigned to Christie's tally. This allows voters to take a chance on an Independent and still be able to cast a vote for the top two parties.
This sounds difficult (it's certainly difficult to explain in just a few sentences) but, I assure you, it would be easy to implement and no one should feel miffed or slightly because every one has the opportunity to have their votes "count."
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