| Greenwich Free Press |
On Thursday a panel discussion titled “Discourse and Democracy” at town hall was organized by the First Selectman’s Youth Commission and featured an audience mostly of high school students.
”Inoculation against the extremes
US Congressman for Connecticut Jim Himes said he was an unconditional supporter of Ranked Choice Voting as a way to empower the center, de-power the extremes and give voters more choice.
Maryfrancis Metrick is on the board of advisors for Connecticut Voters First, which is focused on ranked choice voting, and a member of the National Board of the Forward Party which is a newly formed party. She said, “It’s clear that you don’t win in ranked choice voting unless you get the majority of the vote. It’s also an inoculation against fringe elements because if you have a number of candidates running, but you have strong support from a base of fanatics – unless you have ranked choice voting, there is a real risk that that could happen, so it is an inoculation against the extremes as well.”
Metrick said RCV had been used in Australia for 100 years. She said RCV also allowed third parties to emerge and would help American Democracy get back on track.
