Comments on: New Orleans votes for lesser of two evils http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2006/05/22/new-orleans-votes-for-lesser-of-two-evils/ Protect yourself from government gaffes, bureaucratic blunders and incumbent incompetence Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:25:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mark Jaquith http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2006/05/22/new-orleans-votes-for-lesser-of-two-evils/#comment-8710 Mark Jaquith Mon, 22 May 2006 23:30:30 +0000 http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2006/05/22/new-orleans-votes-for-lesser-of-two-evils/#comment-8710 Lenny, The whole <em>country</em> is mired in the two-party system. Preference voting would be fantastic, but neither of the two parties in power now wants a third party with which to do battle. Lenny,
The whole country is mired in the two-party system. Preference voting would be fantastic, but neither of the two parties in power now wants a third party with which to do battle.

]]> By: Lenny Zimmermann http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2006/05/22/new-orleans-votes-for-lesser-of-two-evils/#comment-8709 Lenny Zimmermann Mon, 22 May 2006 16:08:25 +0000 http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2006/05/22/new-orleans-votes-for-lesser-of-two-evils/#comment-8709 One of the local Louisiana bloggers, Chad Rogers (or http://www.thedeadpelican.com although it's not so much a blog as a Louisiana-related newsand editorial site, with occasionaly commentary by the webmaster), stated that when all was said and done that the primary/run-off system used in New Orleans (most of Lousiaiana, rally) just doesn't server voters well. It takes a field of candidates then reduces the voter to one of the choices that they can only hope gets into a run-off. The problem comes when you end up with two similar candidates (such as this last Mayorial race, as many folks were commenting on the difficulty in deciding between two fairly similar Democrats). Of course his answer was to ensure a two-party race, which I don't think is the right answer, either. I emailed him that Louisianans really should take a good hard look at the different Preference Voting formats out there as a TRUE alternative, but he never bothered to comment (except to further criticize those who were defending the current method.) In all I think that is where not just Louisiana but so much of this country really need to move towards in order to really provide people with a voice when they vote so we're not constantly stuck in the never-ending mantra of voting for the "lesser of two evils." Unfortunately I think much of this state is so mired in two-party politics nobody seems to want to bother considering such things. One of the local Louisiana bloggers, Chad Rogers (or http://www.thedeadpelican.com although it’s not so much a blog as a Louisiana-related newsand editorial site, with occasionaly commentary by the webmaster), stated that when all was said and done that the primary/run-off system used in New Orleans (most of Lousiaiana, rally) just doesn’t server voters well. It takes a field of candidates then reduces the voter to one of the choices that they can only hope gets into a run-off. The problem comes when you end up with two similar candidates (such as this last Mayorial race, as many folks were commenting on the difficulty in deciding between two fairly similar Democrats). Of course his answer was to ensure a two-party race, which I don’t think is the right answer, either. I emailed him that Louisianans really should take a good hard look at the different Preference Voting formats out there as a TRUE alternative, but he never bothered to comment (except to further criticize those who were defending the current method.)

In all I think that is where not just Louisiana but so much of this country really need to move towards in order to really provide people with a voice when they vote so we’re not constantly stuck in the never-ending mantra of voting for the “lesser of two evils.” Unfortunately I think much of this state is so mired in two-party politics nobody seems to want to bother considering such things.

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