Instant-runoff voting

news regarding the state of voting in America. And I regret to say that it is not looking good. The 2012 election saw a 3% decrease in voter turnout, with only 58.2% of eligible voters turning up at the polls. Likewise, public approval of the government has plummeted, with Congressional approval hitting a new low of 9% in 2013. In the face of such political cynicism, it’s clear some kind of a solution is needed. The majority of democratic governments, including the United States of America use the plurality voting system for their elections. Recently however, instant runoff voting has been gaining attention as a superior alternative to plurality voting. Nations such as Australia, Ireland, Papua New Guinea and Malta have already…

First past the post is the oldest voting system in the world, and at first glance it seems simple, efficient and fair, with the candidate that gets the most votes winning. However, this is far from the truth. This archaic and exploitable system undermines citizens’ right to have their voice heard in government and breeds gridlocked and inefficient government. Citizens must realize that the outdated and unfair first past the post voting system must be replaced with a more proportionally…

Imagine if you lived in a country where you had no fair and equal say in government. Your opinions on how to run the country would be skewed, contorted, and misrepresented. This is our reality as citizens of the United States on presidential election days. The votes are not fair under the Electoral College, today’s system of electing our president. In this system, citizens vote for electors in each state who convene in December to decide the next president. For numerous reasons, the Electoral…

Electoral College Alternative The Electoral College is a voting system that was put into place by our founding fathers in the constitution. The Electoral College has 538 electors and out of those electors, 270 votes are needed to win an election (National Archives and Records Administration 1) . Most Americans dislike the Electoral College and what it stands for, being that Americans feel their votes do not count. If there were alternative ways for people to cast their votes, whether that be…

factor in the election (Fairvote NP). The majority of the nation would decide virtually every part of how the nation is run. This system, like all systems has its flaws. The most prominent among these is the fact that minority rights are expunged from society (Fairvote NP). The people in major cities would control the government and people in rural areas, like Scott City, would be hung out to dry. “Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it.” (Tolstoy). The people of this…

Supporters of the Electoral College claim a popular vote to elect the president would result in runoff elections. A runoff election occurs when no decisive winner cam be chosen, in other words, it’s too close to a tie to consider one candidate the winner. This claim is unquestionably valid—in a national-popular-vote-only election. No one wants to deal with re-votes and re-counts. That is why the choicest voting method is not a national popular vote where each person votes for their candidate of…

There have been many soil conservation measures that have been either recommended by agricultural agencies or demonstrated by top-down government. Farmers need to make trenches so water runoff will get out of the crops or they will damage. Most farmers do not do that. Conservative farming techniques can contribute to soil conservation and increase crop yields. There is a need to systematically understand the rationality and effectiveness of these measures to enhance a broader scale of…

with turbidity. The interference with turbidity can reduce photosynthesis and decrease primary productivity which the fish food organisms depend. Fish production is reduced as a consequence. (“Water Turbidity Effects on Fish and Aquatic Life | Learn Water Basics Students Teachers Public”) Turbidity (cloudiness of water) should at no time go above 5 nephelometric units. Turbidity can go no higher than 1 NTU in at least 95 percent of the daily samples for two consecutive months. The website does…

If we change the material the water goes through, how will it affect the quality of the water after it passes? To make the water quality better, an experiment can be done to see if a certain material can be placed in runoff areas. The independent variable would be the different material; rock, sand, and soil. The dependent variable would be the water quality. To test the water quality, test the pH level, the amount of dissolved oxygen, and the level of nitrogen and phosphorus. To keep the trials…

My Opinion: • Road salt may be an effective way to melt ice on roads, but it comes with many drawbacks, that can especially harm the environment, and even damage infrastructure. Argument #1: Salt contaminates many bodies of water, which affects aquatic animals in a negative way. • Salt in ponds and lakes prevents aquatic plants and animals from getting their nutrients. • High concentrations of salt in freshwater has harmful effects on the growth, reproduction, and survival of invertebrates,…