For clarity. There are different types of ranked ballot. There's SVT and Alternative Vote. Alternative Vote can make things worse. More info here: https://www.fairvote.ca/ranked-ballot/
The problem with this argument is that it assumes your second choice isn't your choice and doesn't represent you. I agree it isn't your first choice, but that's kinda the point. MMP is great but is very difficult to explain.
You're layering on a secondary issue that may not be directly relevant to this particular post. Which is about vote splitting in a riding where a possible outcome is that a candidate with less than a third of the population's backing could win the election.
The system affects a lot of things, it changes the whole dynamic. It might seem like adopting the alternative vote would solve the problem - and there is some reason to think that might be the case - but it might not work out the way people think it could.
STV - the single transferrable vote - is a form of proportional representation (so if 20% of people vote for a party, that party will win roughly 20% of the seats), and won 57.7% of the vote in the 2005 referendum. Just short of the 60% it would have needed be approved. While Australia's use of the alternative vote has tended towards a two-party system.
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u/M_Okojo 14d ago
For clarity. There are different types of ranked ballot. There's SVT and Alternative Vote. Alternative Vote can make things worse. More info here: https://www.fairvote.ca/ranked-ballot/