After the first round, if no single candidate has a majority of “first choice” votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is dropped, and the dropped candidate’s “second choice” votes are substituted (since the “first choice” i.e. that candidate has been dropped). This process is repeated until a single candidate has a majority. Thus, the “lesser of two evils” problem is eliminated and democracy thrives anew.

The following is reproduced with permission from the Californians for Electoral Reform website. See the original at:

http://cfer.org/outreach/pressreleaseSept2011.pdf

***

Second poll confirms Ron Paul strength among California Republican Delegates, lack of willingness of Ron Paul supporters to consider other candidates

An official “straw poll” released by the California Republican Party on September 17 showed U.S. Representative Ron Paul of Texas an overwhelming winner 44.9% support with in a crowded field of presidential candidates. That percentage was echoed with 45.8% of first place votes in a simultaneous survey taken by nonpartisan Californians for Electoral Reform (CfER).

The CfER poll shows a closer race for second place among California GOP activists, with 16.2% of first place votes for Rick Perry and 13.2% for Mitt Romney, compared with 29.3% and 8.8% respectively in the official straw poll. Michele Bachmann placed fourth with 7.2% (versus 7.7% in the straw poll), Newt Gingrich was fifth with 3.9%, Rick Santorum was sixth with 3%. Tied for seventh place with 2.4% each were Herman Cain and write-in candidate Sarah Palin. Seven other candidates shared the remaining six percent of first place votes.

What makes the CfER survey interesting is that participants were asked to rank as many candidates as they wanted, putting the number “1″ by their first choice, “2″ by their second favorite, and so on. Ranked Choice Ballots give each respondent the opportunity to express who they favor most and who else they are willing to accept in a fallback position.

Among the 76 GOP activists who ranked Ron Paul number one in the survey, 25 declined declined to mark a second choice, nearly one-third of those voting. The 91 ballots showing other first-choice candidates had only 3 GOP voters declining to make a second choice. This indicates a strong dedication of Ron Paul supporters for their candidate. Of 51 Paul supporters marking a second choice, 28 (54.9%) went to former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson.

ROUND-BY-ROUND RESULTS OF
REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL SURVEY
Conducted at California State Convention, September 16-17, 2011

In this survey, 167 ballots were collected and tallied. 84 votes (the whole number of ballots larger than fifty percent) are required for a majority of the votes cast. Only number “1″ choices are counted in the first round. If no majority is achieved, the lowest ranked candidate(s) is/are eliminated in the next round, and each ballot is transferred to the next preference of each individual voter whose earlier choices had been eliminated. Only the highest ranking still active on any ballot is counted in any given round. To learn more about Ranked Choice Ballots, see www.cfer.org or www.fairvote.org

ROUND ONE
All number “1″ votes were counted with subsequent numbers ignored on this round. All ballots bearing just “X” or check marks were counted as a single vote shared fractionally by all candidates so marked. Tally shows votes in the following amounts: Ron Paul 76.5, Rick Perry 27, Mitt Romney 22, Michele Bachman 12, Newt Gingrich 6.5, Rick Santorum 5, Herman Cain 4, Sarah Palin (write-in) 4, Jon Huntsman 2, Gary Johnson 2, Fred Karger (write-in) 2, and with one vote each, write-ins Chris Christie, Jim DeMint, Rudy Guliani, and Alan Keyes. Ballot listed candidates Thad McCotter and Buddy Roemer received no first place votes.

ROUND TWO
Candidates Christie, DeMint, Guliani, Keyes, McCotter and Roemer were eliminated and b allots transferred to the second choice of each voter for eliminated candidates. Candidates Bachmann, Huntsman and Perry each pick up one vote, with one ballot exhausted (showing no further valid choices).

ROUND THREE
Candidates Johnson and Karger (lowest remaining with 2 votes each) eliminated. Candidates Huntsman and Paul each pick up two votes. Count now stands at: Ron Paul 78.5, Rick Perry 28, Mitt Romney 22, Michele Bachman 13, Newt Gingrich 6.5, Jon Huntsman 5, Rick Santorum 5, Herman Cain 4, Sarah Palin (write-in) 4, exhausted ballots 1.

ROUND FOUR
Candidates Cain and Palin (lowest remaining with 4 votes each) eliminated. Candidate Bachmann picks up 4 votes, while Gingrich and Paul each pick up one vote, and 2 ballots are exhausted. Count now stands at: Ron Paul 79.5, Rick Perry 28, Mitt Romney 22, Michele Bachman 17, Newt Gingrich 7.5, Jon Huntsman 5, Rick Santorum 5, exhausted ballots 3.

ROUND FIVE
Candidates Huntsman and Santorum (lowest remaining with 5 votes each) eliminated. Candidate Perry picks up 3 votes, Gingrich and Romney 2 each, with one vote each for Bachmann and Paul. One ballot is exhausted. Count now stands at: Ron Paul 80.5, Rick Perry 31, Mitt Romney 24, Michele Bachman 18, Newt Gingrich 9.5, exhausted ballots 4.

ROUND SIX
Candidate Gingrich (lowest remaining with 9.5 votes) is eliminated. Candidate Romney picks up 5.5 votes, Perry 2, with one each going to Bachmann and Paul. Count now stands at: Ron Paul 81.5, Rick Perry 33, Mitt Romney 29.5, Michele Bachman 19, exhausted ballots 4.

ROUND SEVEN
Candidate Bachmann (lowest remaining with 19 votes) is eliminated. Candidate Perry picks up 7 votes, Paul 3 and Romney one vote. Eight ballots are exhausted. The final count stands at: Ron Paul 84.5, Rick Perry 40, Mitt Romney 30.5, exhausted ballots 12.

ROUND EIGHT
Having surpassed the majority threshold of 84 votes, U.S. Representative RON PAUL of Texas is declared the winner of this survey.

RANKED CHOICE BALLOTS

Used in several countries, and in many organizations (including by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to choose the Oscar winner for Best Picture), there are numerous names for Ranked Choice Ballots. They include Alternative Vote, Enumerated Ballots, the Hare System, Instant Runoff Voting, Preference or Preferential Voting, and the Single Transferable Vote.

When only one candidate is to be selected, this vote-counting system requires that the winner achieve at least 50% of the vote from the active ballots. Usually that means a majority among the most popular candidates remaining after elimination of less popular candidates have been made in earlier rounds.
To learn more about Ranked Choice Ballots, see www.cfer.org or www.fairvote.org

Californians for Electoral Reform

CfER is a nonpartisan civic group which promotes only two reforms: use of Ranked Choice Ballots and Proportional Representation.

In addition, a number of high-profile gubernatorial debates, which exclude all candidates except Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican rival Meg Whitman, have been scheduled throughout California. This non-inclusive debate series will kick off September 28 with a televised debate hosted at the University of California, Davis, and co-sponsored by the Sacramento Bee, to be followed by an October 2 debate at California State University, Fresno, and a Ronn Owens radio debate October 5 on KGO-810 AM. Tom Brokaw has agreed to moderate the final debate, October 12, sponsored and hosted by Dominican University of California.

“Non-inclusive debates are not a new phenomenon,” said Christina Tobin, founder and chair of The Free and Equal Elections Foundation. “However, the true purpose of candidate debates should be to provide a forum for all qualified candidates to discuss the issues and provide voters with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions at the polls.”

Brown has challenged Whitman to a number of joint town hall appearances in addition to the already confirmed debate schedule.

“Every one of these debates is hosted by a credible organization, guaranteeing a fair and open forum,” Brown said in a statement, reported on The Sacramento Bee’s Capital Alert blog. “There is no reason not to participate, no reason not to say what we really mean, and show the voters who we are.”

“Brown’s guarantee of a fair and open forum is severely flawed,” Tobin said. “The only way to make these debates truly fair and open is to include all qualified candidates. They deserve the opportunity to participate, say what they really mean and show the voters who they are as well. If Brown wants to promote fairness, he should start playing fair, himself.”

“Non-inclusive debates do not provide voters with the answers they need to make informed decisions at the polls,” Tobin said. “These faux debates only work with insider candidates and partisan media, providing little if any substantial information.”

Gubernatorial candidates, Chelene Nightingale of the Constitution Party and Laura Wells of the Green Party, along with California Peace & Freedom Party State Chair C.T. Weber, Libertarian National Chair Mark Hinkle, Green Party National Co-Chair Michael Feinstein and Constitution Party National Chair Jim Clymer, have said they agree with Free and Equal’s opposition of all non-inclusive candidate debates.

“All Free and Equal debates follow a strict policy of inviting every eligible candidate,” Tobin said. “Free and Equal is calling on other debate organizers to follow our lead by doing what is right for the people, not favoring the political insiders and biased media.”

“Free & Equal will continue to shine light on this unfair and corrupt practice in addition to hosting truly open and all-inclusive debates across the country,” Tobin said. “Free and Equal is teaming up with student organizations at universities nationwide to produce the all-inclusive debates the public is crying for. The students are our next generation of leaders, and Free and Equal is thrilled to be part of their introduction to civic responsibility, in hopes of providing a much more just future for Americans across the board.”

With university and student support, Free and Equal will produce a string of all-inclusive, back-to-back gubernatorial and U.S. senatorial candidate debates beginning with debates in California, Illinois and Oklahoma, with more states signing on rapidly.

“Students for Sensible Drug Policy chapters are stepping up to the plate in several states and we are anticipating support from other groups such as Students for Liberty, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and student governments, among others, to join in and help,” Tobin said.

All Free and Equal debates will be streamed live on freeandequal.org and will cover a number of important issues including economics, war, drugs, election reform and proportional representation in addition to many others.

Principles Over Parties, a pro-liberty, antiwar and free speech rally will take place Saturday, September 4, 2 – 4 p.m. at San Francisco Civic Center and will include prominent speakers including Congressman Ron Paul, candidate for U.S. House John Dennis and former San Francisco supervisor Matt Gonzalez, all of whom have stated they support all-inclusive debates.

Free & Equal has launched a petition to open all debates to include all qualified candidates and would appreciate your support of our mission by signing the petition and spreading the word.

“A petition was filed for a ‘Tea Party’ but the nominee is a former Democratic Party state committee member with no ties to the Tea Party movement,” said Christina Tobin, president and founder of Free and Equal Elections Foundation. “There is no evidence of any active campaign other than the petition filed. This is a transparent attempt to confuse voters.”

Compared to New York’s arcane challenge period, gathering 15,000 signatures was the easy part. With the challenge period upon us, Free & Equal asked each campaign how they felt about the inevitable challenges.

Jimmy McMillan is the hard working and charismatic founder of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party (spelled “Rent Is 2 Damn High” in order to fit on the ballot), a single issue party dedicated to reducing the cost of living in New York City. Having submitted only a little over 15,000 signatures, McMillan is vulnerable to a challenge. However, McMillan is not the type to give up easily. He successfully sued the Board of Elections in order to use the word “Damn” in the name of his party.

Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins said he is confident he can survive a challenge with 27,500 signatures. “We have successfully petitioned our five statewide candidates on the ballot by the independent nominating petition process,” Hawkins said. “That doesn’t mean ballot access in New York is fair. The five recognized parties did not have to petition to place the statewide candidates they designated at their conventions on the ballot. While disparities in ballot access were not a problem for our statewide slate, many of our candidates for U.S. Congress and state Senate and Assembly had difficulty.”

Former Ron Paul campaign lawyer and Libertarian Party candidate Warren Redlich also said he is confident, having submitted nearly 34,000 signatures. “My mother was out there getting signatures, my father-in-law too. Hundreds of people helped … and we had a dedicated team who spent the past week putting it all together,” Redlich said of the unprecedented volunteer effort. “Now that we’re on the ballot, we can work on delivering the message to the voters.”

Freedom Party candidate Charles Barron said he is upset with the Democratic Party’s hypocrisy on diversity, including its nomination of an all-white statewide slate this year. He could not be reached for comment as of this writing, but had this to say recently, when asked about petition challenges: “Bring it. We dare them to challenge us.” Regarding debates, he said: “Let the debates begin … if they try to say we’re some fringe organization and we can’t be in the debates, we’re going to break the door down!”

It looks like New York will have an exciting gubernatorial campaign.

Restrictive ballot access laws across the nation prevent voters from having a real choice in who they vote for.

And the Democratic and Republican machines intend to keep it that way.

Former Nader campaign manager Theresa Amato’s new book Grand Illusion presents a scathing indictment of the current state of ballot access in America.

Grand Illusion recounts the story of the Democratic Party’s attempt to boot Nader out of the 2004 Presidential election, and offers insight into other recent independent and third party campaigns. Amato also lays out specific reform steps that can be taken to improve the state of ballot access in this country.

In this video, Ralph Nader lays the failures of our government at the feet of the Two-Party Tyranny. He encourages Americans to read the Grand Illusion and to get motivated to take our nation back from the two corporate controlled parties.

Click Here to Watch Ralph Nader on the Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny

In a statement released last week, Congressman Ron Paul commended the work of Free & Equal Elections, and also endorsed Amato’s new book.

“Our laws are stacked against any real third alternative in the two-party monopoly. By and large, candidates must conform to the system or have difficulty even getting on ballots. Americans deserve better, and across the country, people are waking up and working hard to remove unfair barriers. We deserve a system where third parties can compete, and Democrats and Republicans are held to their platforms and rhetoric. I am impressed by the work of the Free & Equal Elections Foundation, and commend them for their leadership on this issue.

Theresa Amato has experienced the unfairness of our system like few others. Her new book “Grand Illusion” is an important contribution that anyone serious about ballot access reform should read. I thank Theresa for sharing her experiences with us and know her book will make a difference.”

Click Here to Read Congressman Paul’s Full Statement

Congressman Ron Paul, R-TX, has sent a statement of support for Free & Equal Elections, and an endorsement of Theresa Amato’s new book Grand Illusion.

In the statement, Congressman Paul says that Americans “deserve a system where third parties can compete,”that he is “impressed by the work of the Free & Equal Elections Foundation,” and that Theresa Amato’s new book is “an important contribution that anyone serious about ballot access reform should read.”

The Full Statement:

Congressman Ron Paul

US House of Representatives

June 4, 2009

“Fair ballot access is a very important issue. On the surface, there seem to be substantial differences between Democrats and Republicans, but on the issues of greatest importance, there is little variance. Both parties have come to endorse policies that make America policeman of the world while eroding civil liberties at home, out of control deficit spending and inflationary monetary policy that places tremendous burden on working families.

“Our laws are stacked against any real third alternative in the two-party monopoly. By and large, candidates must conform to the system or have difficulty even getting on ballots. Americans deserve better, and across the country, people are waking up and working hard to remove unfair barriers. We deserve a system where third parties can compete, and Democrats and Republicans are held to their platforms and rhetoric. I am impressed by the work of the Free & Equal Elections Foundation, and commend them for their leadership on this issue.

“Theresa Amato has experienced the unfairness of our system like few others. Her new book “Grand Illusion” is an important contribution that anyone serious about ballot access reform should read. I thank Theresa for sharing her experiences with us and know her book will make a difference.

With resources like “Grand Illusion and activism from groups like the Free & Equal Elections Foundation, I am optimistic that Americans can come together and reform our election laws. I look forward to watching the progress I hope we can all make together.”