Voters need to both feel like they have a stake in the system, and they have to actually have a stake in the system. Every vote has to be counted After the much-publicized troubles with ballots in election 2000 and the increasing number of claims and documented incidents of uncounted ballots, legislatures around the country are racing to convene task forces and special committees to study the problem and recommend changes to ensure every vote is counted in future elections. State governments, as well as Congress, are promising to invest sums of money to modernize voting machines and ballot-types to ensure that every voter that casts a ballot can leave the polling station with the knowledge and peace of mind that her or his vote will be counted. These are all great initiatives that deserve our full support. We can ill afford to stop there, though.
Every vote has to count.
The bill before the committee today offers a voting method that will ensure every vote is not only counted but that every vote will count. The image below is the likeness of what an IRV ballot would like, followed by an image demonstrating the IRV vote-tallying process. As you can see in this example, and as often happens in reality, the Green party candidate acted like a spoiler under FPTP, taking votes away from the Democrat, helping the Republican win. After the first count the Libertarian had the least number of votes and was eliminated. Some voters acknowledge the possibility of a spoiler effect but stand on principle or throw chance into the wind and vote for their most preferred candidate for office.