Problems with Plurality

A small presentation I made for a Techniques of Speaking class that argued for electoral reform, in order to allow third parties a more realistic chance at being heard and elected.

I had a lot of fun designing the slides, too (with Keynote's help, of course).

Links:
Plurality (voting) (Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plurality_(voting)
Instant-runoff voting (Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting
Approval voting (Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approval_voting
CGPGrey - The Problems with First Past The Post Voting Explained (YouTube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo
iSideWith.com: http://www.isidewith.com

Transcript

1. Problems with Plurality:
   ! Why elections in this country suck,
   and how we can make it better Ariel Kirkwood
2. 2012 Presidential Election, popular vote percentages 51.06% Barack Obama 47.21% Mitt Romney ←1.35% - Gary Johnson & Jill Stein (not shown) 0.38% - everyone else
3. Why does this happen? Why can’t third parties win?
4. • Everyone gets one vote, for only one candidate • Whoever gets the most votes wins (no majority needed) The Enemy:
   First-past-the-post
   aka
   Winner-take-all
   aka
   Plurality Voting
5. Minority rule Problems with Plurality #1
6. Tendency towards a two-party system Problems with Plurality #2
7. The spoiler effect Problems with Plurality #3
8. How can we fix it? •Instant-Runoff Voting •Approval Voting
9. Questions? • References • Plurality Voting System (Wikipedia) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Plurality_voting> • Instant-runoff voting (Wikipedia) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant- runoff_voting> • Approval voting (Wikipedia) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approval_voting> • CGPGrey - The Problems with First Past The Post Voting Explained (YouTube) <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7tWHJfhiyo> • iSidewith.com <http://www.isidewith.com>