In these parlous times, one must take satisfaction where one can find it. So I was happy to see that sanity prevailed in more ways than one in the great state of Maine, home of my alma mater:
“Maine has changed how it will choose most officeholders, becoming the first state in the country to adopt ranked-choice voting, also known as instant-runoff voting,” the New York Times reports.
“Ranked-choice voting allows voters to list candidates in order of preference so that if in the first round no one wins a majority, officials can recount the ballots immediately until someone does.”
“In Maine, this type of voting will apply to races for Congress, governor and the State Legislature, but not to municipal offices or president. It is to go into effect starting with the primary races in June 2018. Ranked-choice voting had been under consideration for some time in Maine, where independents often mount strong third-party bids. The winner in nine of the state’s past 11 elections for governor won with less than a majority. The goal is to keep that from happening again.”
via Political Wire
Maine currently has one of the most brain dead governors in the United States, and that’s saying something, because I’m not excluding the governors in the Southland. Hopefully, that will not happen again. So, a little, tiny bit of good news from an otherwise bleak election. Probably too little, too late, for the nation as a whole. The imperfections in the constitution have caught up with us, and there’s little chance, given the present state of our politics, that we’ll do anything to correct those imperfections.
Speaking of Maine, I got a catalog from LL Bean today, and saw to my surprise that they are selling “imported” knock offs of their own Made in Maine Bean boots. You know, the ones for which they have a huge waiting list. By the way, at least in the Bean catalog, I believe it is still the case that if something is made in, say, Denmark, they will say “Made in Denmark”. If it’s made in China, it’s “imported”.
Post a Comment