Articles by John E Palmer

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in The Fulcrum, and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. John E Palmer is chairman of Rank the Vote and a member of the board of the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers. Photo Credit: sarowen / Flickr Beyond being kidney-punched in the Capitol or censured by colleagues, the biggest threat a compromise-minded member of Congress faces these days comes from a primary election challenge. Being “primaried” for displ...

The election shenanigans surrounding Kanye West should be the poster-child for our need to fix an easily-manipulated and broken voting system. Soon after the revelation that the GOP had its operatives collecting signatures for the famous rap star, Kanye himself admitted that his “candidacy” for president was all about siphoning votes from Joe Biden. Experts opined that this GOP strategy was to offer up Kanye as an alternative to black voters and others who would otherwise vote Biden in high pe...

After failing to submit enough valid signatures for a People’s Veto, Maine’s Republican bosses are again trying to kill ranked-choice voting (RCV). In this case, the GOP leadership is hiding behind four Maine voters who claim that they may be disenfranchised by the system. The beyond frivolous suit filed July 22 claims that Mainers who choose not to fill out their ballot completely are “denied full participation” in the election. This is ridiculous. All voters are treated equally on the RCV bal...

Consider this voting method: “If, on the first ballot, no one candidate receives a majority of the votes cast, the candidate receiving the least number of votes shall be eliminated…balloting shall continue in this manner until one candidate receives a majority vote.” If this sounds like ranked-choice voting (RCV) to you, go to the head of the class. But this language is actually from The Rules of the Maine Republican Party. It’s how they elect their own officers. That’s why it’s odd that the ...

This article first appeared on The Fulcrum Shouted down as a "spoiler" for three weeks after announcing he was getting ready to run for president as a Libertarian, Justin Amash has abandoned the idea of a third-party candidacy. The coronavirus pandemic's hindrance on his prospects was the reason offered last weekend by the Republican-turned-independent conservative congressman from Michigan. But many will fairly conclude he was bowing to the withering attacks he received. We all purport to wa...

As we close out November each year, America celebrates Small Business Saturday — where we are encouraged to patronize small brick-and-mortar retail stores during the busiest shopping weekend of the holiday season. These small businesses, companies that employee less than 100 people, make up 98% of the 5.6 million employer firms in the US, and more than one-third of the private sector payroll, according to the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council. Yet these companies are put on the sidelin...

In November, Mainers will vote for governor. Recent poll results show four candidates splitting the vote. Talk of “spoilers” is rearing its ugly head, again. Rather than discussing all of the candidates’ qualifications, voters are forced to consider the possible adverse consequences of a vote outside the two major parties. Many must be asking: “Wasn’t ranked-choice voting going to solve this?” The answer is yes, it would have solved it. But our state lawmakers are hiding behind a constitutional...

In November, Mainers will vote for governor. Recent poll results show four candidates splitting the vote. Talk of “spoilers” is rearing its ugly head, again....

The San Francisco mayor’s race was a cliffhanger. After the initial tally of votes for San Francisco mayor, London Breed had 37%, Mark Leno had 24%. Then ranked-choice voting’s instant runoffs kicked in......