Wednesday, April 26, 2023 - 6:30pm to 8:00pm
Listen to the recording of this event:
https://www.facebook.com/lwvoberlinarea/videos/3355533788110364/
Words from the event organizer, Rhys Price Jones:
Justin, presented enthusiastic and articulate advocacy for ranked choice voting. He clearly described the advantages of how RCV offers solutions to some serious problems with the current system. RCV is far less likely to encourage the extremism permeating party politics. RCV will allow voters to vote their consciences, rather than reluctantly opt for the lesser of two undesirables who, nevertheless, are the only two candidates with a chance of obtaining a plurality on the first (and only) round of voting.
Duncan pointed out barriers to RCV, some emanating from deficiencies in voting equipment and software, and others from deficiencies in Ohio law, such as the inability to place the cast vote records in the public domain. Because of the lack of transparency, election officials are in the position of having to ask voters to “just trust us”. Because of voting technology weaknesses, there are potent reasons for the electorate not to "just trust" the officials. For example in Lorain County, scanners count the barcodes on the ballot paper, not the printed text that the voters been able to verify correctly reflects their choices.
Justin encourages us to continue to press for RCV while simultaneously pressing for fixes to the technical problems, arguing that those problems exist independently of the system. Duncan argues that the additional complexity of counting ranked choices exacerbates the technical problems and may lower public trust in the outcomes."
