| Letters To The Editor | Chicago Sun-Times |
Congress has an approval rating of about 21% yet around a 90% re-election rate. Our partisan system removes accountability for our elected officials, who are meant to represent their electorate in City Hall, Springfield or Washington, D.C.
This is where ranked choice voting enters the playing field. We can have the choice in a primary to rank each candidate in order of preference, as opposed to the restriction of aligning ourselves with a candidate from a political party whose platform we do not agree with wholeheartedly.
”Ranked choice voting ensures checks and balances...
Nonpartisan primaries would force candidates to adapt and address a diverse number of issues. Under the current system, Republicans and Democrats alike have been able to hyper-focus on a single issue to divide the electorate against each other.
The voice of the voter is not truly represented. We have been pigeonholed into being single-issue voters when our climate, energy independence, the cost of an education, universal rights and policy on income and health care equality are all intertwined.
The establishment, which has benefited for generations from this acceptance and fostered a divide-and-conquer political strategy, will criticize ranked choice voting. One such criticism is that it’s too confusing and voters are better served choosing one candidate.
But if we can rank our favorite foods, movies or songs, then we can rank candidates for political office in a primary.
Ranked choice voting ensures checks and balances and is the solution to ensure candidates address a broad number of issues important to a sustainable future. The key word is choice.
Ervin Olson, Chicago
