WHY CAN'T WE HAVE
FAIR ELECTIONS?

• People don't know that PVS is unfair.
• The slogan "One man - one vote" seems to support PVS.
• Most people don't know that any other system exists.
• PVS is simpler than other voting systems.
• People wrongly expect each voter to like exactly one candidate and dislike all of the others.
• Many politicians want the unfair Straight Party Voting, which requires PVS.
• PVS is easier to use than the other systems.
• PVS is a lot less work for the voter than other systems.
• PVS has been in use for thousands of years.
• They don't know how to do a fair election.

The widespread use Plurality Voting System (PVS) is the reason we have unfair elections.

Here are reasons why the Plurality Voting System is unfair:

• The Plurality Voting System unfairly favors the candidate most different from the others.
• The Plurality Voting System unfairly disfavors the candidate most similar to the others.
• The voter who likes more than one candidate unfairly can't choose more than one.
• The voter's vote doesn't count when the voter doesn't like any of the candidates.
• Negative campaigning can take votes from one candidate and give them to another.
• PVS allows Straight Party Voting, unfair to candidates running for minor offices.
• The Plurality Voting System favors the candidate most different from the others in the primary elections.
• The two candidates most different from the others picked by the primaries face off in the general elections.
• A majority not wanting the most different candidate can't vote to prevent his election without illegal collusion.
• Third party candidates then mess with the general election to select the worst candidate possible to win the election.

The Plurality Voting System fits Granholm's definition of the kludge perfectly:

• An ill assorted collection of poorly matching parts, forming a distressing whole.
• Granholm then cited the camel as the perfect example of the kludge.

How can we get rid of this unfair bias? The following must be done.

• Make YES and NO votes have the same weight.
• Don't force each voter to like only one candidate.
• Don't divide the electorate into percentages.
• Don't interlock votes between candidates.
• Don't disqualify any ballot due to any selections made.

There is only one way to make this happen:

• Two things must be done:
  1. The Plurality Voting System (vote for only one) used in most places must be permanently abolished.
  2. The Independent Voting System (vote on each choice separately) must be adopted into law.

1. The voter has 3 choices for each candidate: YES, NO, and ABSTAIN.
2. The default if the voter does nothing is always ABSTAIN.
3. On a lever machine, a three position control is used for each candidate (at right).
4. Each paper ballot candidate has YES and NO check boxes.
5. Checking neither or both check boxes is ABSTAIN.
6. Computer ballots, like paper ballots, would have YES and NO buttons for each candidate.
7. There is no interlocking of votes between candidates.
8. Each candidate's score is his YES votes minus his NO votes.
9. The candidate with the highest positive score wins.

With the Plurality Voting System, a vote with no YES vote for an office is not counted at all.

With the Independent Voting System, all votes except ABSTAIN votes are counted equally:

1. The Independent Voting System does not unfairly favor or disfavor any candidate.
2. The voter who likes more than one candidate is not disenfranchised.
3. The voter who doesn't like any of the candidates is not disenfranchised.
4. Negative campaigning does not help the candidate who indulges in it.
5. The Independent Voting System selects the candidate who pleases the most people in the primary elections.
6. The two candidates who please the most people in the primaries face off in the general elections.
7. The Independent Voting System does not need primary elections. The same result should occur if all of the candidates run in the general election with no primary elections.
8. Third party candidates don't mess up the general election. The outcome is the same with or without the third party candidate, unless that candidate wins.

Thus, the Independent Voting System is fair. No candidate is disfavored and no voter is disenfranchised by the system.