Preferential voting? We prefer not

Frontiersman editorial staff

After the last national election the call went out to reform the election process. Butterfly ballots, chads of the hanging, dimpled and pregnant varieties gained notorious reputations. It was time to modernize, simplify and streamline the voting process to avoid the confusion and controversy. Ballot measure 1 which will greet Alaska voters at the Aug. 27 primary election responds to that challenge by throwing caution, and common sense, to the wind.

The measure, which goes by the name "preferential" voting, asks voters to rank the candidates rather than just pick one. Instead of choosing the lesser of two evils, voters now have to decide exactly how evil each candidate is relative to his or her opponents. In a perfect election, somebody would get a majority of first place votes. End of story. If that doesn't happen, though, the last place candidate is eliminated, and some underpaid and under-appreciated somebody would move those votes to the second choice candidates on those ballots. Still with us? No you're not. This process would continue until one lucky candidate finally nabbed something resembling a majority -- or until the next election, whichever comes first.

Of course, a process like this presents all kinds of problems -- even aside from the obvious. Asking voters to rank candidates, and then shifting votes to achieve a majority, there is a real chance that the outcome could produce a winner that would have finished third or fourth in a standard-style election, just to name one problem. Also, when you add complicated steps to the calculation process, you increase the likelihood of mistakes. The idea is to produce a clear winner based upon the will of the electorate. We're not picking prom queens, here. When it comes to your doctor, your mom or your representatives, second best just isn't good enough.

Ultimately, don't we want to make the process as clean and foolproof as possible? This ballot measure doesn't even specify if voters will be provided with slide rules, or if they'll have to bring their own. Maybe we can just get a good deal on butterfly ballots from Florida.