We don’t ordinarily run letters from out of the area, but in the case of one from Brian Stephenson of Salem, Va. (find it HERE), it seemed worthwhile to do.
Stephenson is an advocate of switching the method of voting to “approval voting.” In simplest terms, voters casting ballots for any particular office simply check off those candidates (from none to all or somewhere in between) who meet their approval. The one with the most overall votes wins.
Hmmmm. Have to say, I’m liking it. It has the same(ish) intent of instant-runoff voting, but without all the complications.
Alas, it looks like the instant-runoff advocates beat the approval-voting advocates to the punch. But it definitely is a method that seems to make sense.
(If one wanted to stir the pot, and we know that is not my style, we also could do reverse-approval voting: Voters check the boxes of every candidate they absolutely, positively do not want to see in office. The one with the fewest negative votes wins.)
WHEN HELPERS DON’T HELP: I’m sure Democrats thought it would be a good thing to bring former President Obama to a campaign rally in Charlottesville for the Democratic statewide ticket, but it kind of backfired …in a little way, at least.
Our former president has many fine attributes, but one grating one is his propensity to lecture Americans about whatever is stuck in his craw at the moment. And stuck in his craw at the rally was his belief that Americans weren’t really PO’d about the situation in the public schools; they were, he suggested while wagging his finger, merely being led astray by right-wing media.
Well, if right-wing potentates held that much sway, I’m deserving of a pay raise. But nope, there really is anger out there among the populace. Apparently our former president missed the memo.
How much anger is out there? Guess we’ll know when the results start rolling in Tuesday night. If the PO’d parents turn out in droves, it’ll be a good night for Republicans.
Time will tell.
- Scott McCaffrey