I swear that change is what most people fear the most. And with that said all of us dumping on Collins could have put some people’s backs up. But I also don’t remember anyone talking to Maine voters about Collins. Why does she still appeal to people when she always seems to be following instead of leading, leading on any issue?
And what do the voters think of Angus King?
1 Like
Adams’ “salt the earth” campaign style hasn’t won him enough votes to succeed in the first round.
2 Likes
From what I understand she very effectively undercut Gideon with the “You’re not from here” message. In Maine, if your granpappy wasn’t born in the same town, you’re not from here, and Gideon had moved there “only” 20 years ago. Collins is good at getting elected.
5 Likes
So tired of all this - voted nearly 5 weeks ago - sick of the calls, mailers, YouTube ads (although always nice to see Weprin’s mom).
2 Likes
ranked-choice elections are hard to poll.
I’ll bet everyone in the politics industry hates them.
2 Likes
Well Suzy you were born and bred in ME but never held state office. Your career highlights include appointed and salaried positions outside of ME.
Again my theory of voters keeping some politicians employed out of state is really a protective measure for them back home.
1 Like
It sounds like somebody got surprised that the game theory behind Ranked Voting plays out the way it does. Perhaps he should have spent 15 minutes reviewing it with his political staff.
3 Likes
This article gets the emphasis wrong: Adams wasn’t attacking ranked-choice voting; he was engaging in racial demagoguery, using RCV as his cudgel. In order to win, he has to have massive turnout in two key constituencies: older Black voters and working-class whites. This ugliness is his attempt to nail down his base. Even so, I don’t think it gets him to 50% +1, especially when Garcia is most everyone’s second choice. (Full disclosure: Garcia’s my first choice by a huge margin.)
6 Likes
Exactly. I was going to hold my nose and rank Adams 3rd, but this was the last straw.
4 Likes
I voted last Sunday on the second day of early voting and ranked Garcia as my first choice followed by Adams and Donovan. I want boring and wonky with a knowledge of government.
Garcia has a stellar record as an administrator both under Bloomberg and the current mayor. She ran the DEP well, pumping out water during Superstorm Sandy plus was the sanitation commissioner. When sanitation workers as well as their officers, who can be a tough bunch endorse you then you must be capable. When she was tasked to oversea the public housing agency she helped to reduce lead poisoning by 21% and accelerated repairs.
Adams was my second because he was generally a good borough president which even as diminished title due to the post 1989 charter allowed him to have a positive impact on the borough. As he said it’s like mayor school. Can he be brusk, sure. Some sketchy old school clubhouse ties, yup.
He also has a good record on public health and nutrition issues. Getting health right affects other concerns. Things like getting cold cuts out of the school lunch program. Additionally I think he has the ability to thread the needle on policing issues. He does favor going back to community policing aka the cop on the beat. Having him take to task the PBA and SBA officials would be delicious to watch. Maya and Art Chang were respectively my fourth and fifth picks. I had considered putting Yang in the mix but his cheery tech bro “outside the box” I haven’t been in government approach was wearing thin. Plus his genuflecting to the orthodox Jewish community on issues like Yeshiva education and unorthodox circumcision methods stretches the bounds of religious freedom to a level of bad faith.
3 Likes
Adams wins even without RCV. In fact, RCV gives one of his much better competitors a chance.
Re “without ranked choice”, not exactly.
Under prior system in NYC (https://observer.com/2018/05/new-york-city-instant-runoff-voting/), a mayoral primary would go to a runoff between the top two finishers if no one won at least 40% of the vote.
Adams isn’t going to get 40% of the vote on the first round, and I think that would have been true even if there wasn’t ranked choice voting. So, without ranked choice, he would have likely been one of the top 2 finishers, and been in a runoff election a couple of weeks from now. He probably would have won the hypothetical runoff, but one never knows.
3 Likes
It makes sense though right?
The concept is if the crank candidate was not standing, how would people vote.
The problem is that the crank candidates may draw more voters out who might not have voted in the first place. And suddenly your vote is being affected by the crank candidate’s followers preferences.
Even that, however, is a significant theoretical win because it means it brought more voters out.
1 Like
You, sir/madam, sound like a thoughtful and well-informed voter. I agree wholeheartedly with your rationale–i.e., wanting a wonky and capable mayor. Garcia was my first choice followed by Donovan, Wiley, Stringer, and Yang. Adams was my “good enough” second choice until yesterday, but that demagoguery was disqualifying. (It was also a gift to Wiley, who shrewdly called it out very publicly.)
4 Likes
Yes, we (I live in NYC) can rank up to 5 people in the primary elections for city positions (mayor, comptroller, city council, etc.). Can’t do it for judges, because those are state positions.
Ranked choice is for primary and special elections only, not for the general election in November.
1 Like
Runoffs are terrible because the 2nd round of voting is almost always less representative.
1 Like
I was going to rank Adams fifth, because I prefer him to Yang. But then I had the same reaction, and didn’t rank Adams at all.
3 Likes
Maybe, maybe not. See my 1:07 pm response in this thread about the pre-RCV system in NYC.
That’s another argument in favor of ranked-choice systems.
3 Likes
If I hadn’t voted last Sunday Adams would have been a place or two lower because of him demagoguing the Garcia Yang alliance. Even Maya took him to task. This is the one issues with early voting-unforeseen circumstances and a candidate goes off script.
1 Like