Commonwealth Magazine: MCAS coming in spring; Gov Baker calls ranked choice too complicated

From CommonWealth Magazine we share two articles of interest for Franklin:

"MCAS exams coming in spring, education officials say" 

"TOP MASSACHUSETTS EDUCATION officials on Tuesday insisted MCAS exams will be held next spring and urged districts to conduct in-person learning even if they are located in communities at high risk for COVID-19 – as long as there is no evidence the transmission is occurring in schools.

Testifying virtually before the Legislature’s Education Committee, state Education Secretary Jim Peyser and education Commissioner Jeff Riley said their guidance to school districts has been updated to reflect that districts are encouraged to remain open even if their community is red on the Baker administration’s color-coded map.

School districts had been asked to review at least three weeks of community COVID-19 data before adjusting learning models. Now the Baker administration officials say three weeks in red is not enough to move to remote learning.

“We are not seeing the spread take place, clustering take place in the schools as initially feared,” said Riley."

Continue reading article online  https://commonwealthmagazine.org/education/mcas-exams-coming-in-spring-education-officials-say/

"Baker calls ranked-choice voting too complicated"

GOV. CHARLIE BAKER said on Tuesday that he opposes ranked-choice voting because it’s too complicated for both voters and election officials to carry out.

The governor said voting is already complicated enough. “From our point of view, this thing [ranked-choice voting] is too complicated to have on top of that,” he said at a State House press conference. “The counting process alone could get unbelievably difficult.”

Jesse Mermell, an honorary co-chair and senior advisor to the ranked choice campaign, said ranked choice was implemented in Maine with no problems and has been in use in Cambridge since 1941.

“I think that’s insulting to Massachusetts voters,” she said of the governor’s comments.

Continue reading article online 

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/politics/baker-calls-ranked-choice-voting-too-complicated/

In the News: "The system isn’t broken right now"

From the Milford Daily News, an article of interest for Franklin:

"Question 2 on the Tuesday, Nov. 3 ballot asks the Massachusetts electorate to adopt ranked-choice voting for nearly all federal and state races — excluding U.S. president — that result in a single winner.

A “yes” vote on the binding referendum supports replacing the plurality-voting system in place with ranked choice voting. A “no” vote opposes changing the existing plurality voting.

If Question 2 passes, ranked-choice voting would be implemented for the primary and general elections in 2022. It would come into play when three or more candidates compete in a single-seat election.

Yes on 2 proponents pitch ranked-choice as a remedy to plurality-voting problems — chiefly split voting and spoiler candidates — in crowded Massachusetts elections."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20201005/need-help-figuring-out-question-2-on-november-ballot-proponents-says-it-brings-more-voices-and-choices-to-massachusetts-electorate?rssfeed=true

I am still not convinced of the proposed benefits for ranked choice voting. If I were to schedule a Zoom conference bridge to talk through the pros and cons would you be interested? It wouldn't be recorded, but we (whomever shows up) could discuss this topic. Let me know if you are interested via email or comment.

The Franklin Community Voting Guide for November 2020 is ready for your use to prepare to vote.

Download your copy here:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fIIde4DfyieqnK2hTsZDDfMLmoFcqzoO/view?usp=sharing 

In the News: "The system isn’t broken right now"

@BostonDotCom: "Question 2: What to know about the debate over the Massachusetts ranked choice voting ballot measure"

What to know about the debate over Question 2, the ranked choice voting ballot measure.

"Massachusetts could change the way the state votes this fall. And while skeptics argue that ranked choice voting has overlooked flaws, supporters say it's still a needed improvement to the current system"

Continue reading the article online

https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2020/09/21/massachusetts-ballot-question-2-ranked-choice-voting

Question 2: What to know about the debate over the Massachusetts ranked choice voting ballot measure

What to know about the debate over Question 2, the ranked choice voting ballot measurehttps://t.co/PKOsd4TrNo pic.twitter.com/PVmnIgSjXn

— Boston.com (@BostonDotCom) September 22, 2020

Boston Globe: "Why ranked choice is the wrong choice"

From the Boston Globe, an article of interest for Franklin: 

"Though ranked-choice voting has been bruited about for years as a way to improve elections, I never wrote about it because the debate always seemed so abstract. It’s not abstract anymore. Question 2 on the Massachusetts ballot would implement ranked-choice statewide beginning in 2022. If the initiative passes, elections in Massachusetts will change dramatically.

It won’t be a change for the better.

Proponents of ranked-choice voting argue that the current system, in which the candidate getting the most votes wins the election, is unfair. In a two-candidate race, the winner always receives a majority of the votes, but when three or more candidates are on the ballot, it takes only a plurality, not an outright majority, to win. Ranked-choice advocates call that unjust. “Democracy is supposed to be majority rules,” says Evan Falchuk, who ran for governor in 2014 as an independent and now chairs the Yes on 2 Committee. “We should have a system where the majority wins.”

But by definition, ranked-choice voting only applies to elections in which there isn’t a majority winner. On a ranked-choice ballot, voters can list candidates in order of preference, rather than vote for just the candidate they like best. If no candidate gets more than half of the first-place votes, ranked-choice rules trigger a series of automatic do-overs, repeatedly reallocating votes that went to the least popular candidate until an artificial “majority” is created for one of the remaining candidates. Question 2 thus gives some voters multiple bites of the election apple. At the same time, it effectively disenfranchises other voters — those who don’t rank enough candidates for their ballot to last through multiple rounds of tabulation."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/09/20/opinion/why-ranked-choice-is-wrong-choice/

 

For information on the ballot questions and other items for the November election, visit the "Election Collection"  https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/08/2020-election-collection.html

Boston Globe: "Why ranked choice is the wrong choice"

Commonwealth Magazine: money flows to opposition for one ballot question, group forms to fight the second question

From CommonWealth Magazine we share two articles of interest for Franklin: 

"THE NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE  industry is ponying up huge sums of money to defeat a question on the Massachusetts ballot that would give independent auto repair shops the right to access more information about the cars they are repairing.

As of August 30, car manufacturers had contributed $25 million to the Coalition for Safe and Secure Data, a ballot committee formed to defeat Question 1 on the November ballot, which would update the state’s existing “Right to Repair” law to explicitly cover telematics, which are systems that transmit information wirelessly."

Continue reading the article online
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/politics/car-manufacturers-pool-25m-to-fight-auto-repair-ballot-question/ 

"The ranked-choice voting ballot campaign has been pushing its message for months with only minimal, informal opposition.

Now, with two months left before the election, an organization is finally forming to oppose ranked-choice voting, with the earliest supporters coming from the conservative wing of Massachusetts politics."

Continue reading the article online
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/the-download/opposition-forming-to-ranked-choice-voting-2/

 

Commonwealth Magazine: Ranked choice voting and the 4th District; rethinking high school in COVID

From CommonWealth Magazine we share two articles of interest for Franklin:  

"WHEN JESSE MERMELL gave her videotaped concession speech in the 4th Congressional District primary race on Friday, she did it in front of a sign that read “Jesse Mermell for RCV,” an acronym for ranked–choice voting. “If the ranked–choice voting campaign needs a new face, give me a call, guys,” Mermell said. “I’ve got some time on my hands.” 

Mermell, a progressive who worked for former Gov. Deval Patrick, lost the Democratic primary by just 2,000 votes, or 1.3 percent, to Newton City Councilor and US Marine Corps veteran Jake Auchincloss. That means primary voters in the liberal congressional district that repeatedly reelected Joe Kennedy, Barney Frank, and Robert Drinan over the past five decades have selected seemingly the most moderate of seven Democratic candidates vying to represent them in Congress.

Auchincloss, who worked for Republican Gov. Charlie Baker’s gubernatorial campaign in 2014, won in a seven-candidate field comprised mostly of liberals. Auchincloss rejects the “centrist” label and calls himself a “pragmatic progressive.”  But his close election reflects a campaign that performed strongly in much of the more moderate southern part of the 4th Congressional District, which extends from Brookline and Newton to Fall River, and featured a crowded field that likely led liberal voters to split their vote.  

The race is calling renewed attention to a November ballot question that would implement ranked–choice voting, which lets voters select candidates in order of preference and could mitigate the effects of vote-splitting."

Continue reading the article online
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/politics/would-ranked-choice-voting-have-changed-the-4th-congressional-district-race/

"FOR 20 YEARS, I’ve taught in an adult ed program in Dorchester. Every year we tweak things, adjust the schedule, hire new faculty, tinker with syllabi. Change happens gradually.

This past spring, with the advent of COVID, we had to scramble. Many of our students do not have laptops or good internet service and our class sputtered out. Around the end of June, my fellow teachers and I thought about what we would do for this coming year. What we did is, we tore up our schedule, our comfortable ideas, our expectations, and started fresh. Change happened suddenly.

Which is why I wanted to write up some ideas for the coming school year, specifically for the suburban high school where my children are enrolled.

I, like every other parent I spoke to, and like the teachers and School Committee members who wrote and spoke publicly — like everyone in town — was disappointed with the agenda for this school year — remote learning. The truth is, it’s disappointing because it’s not like previous years, and it’s not close enough to previous years to placate us."

Continue reading the article online

https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/rethinking-high-school-during-covid/

In the News: 4th District candidates for ranked choice; Pelosi endorses Kennedy

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

"A significant majority of the Democratic candidates in the Fourth Congressional District race support the initiative petition on the Nov. 2 ballot that seeks to implement a ranked choice voting system in the 2022 elections.

The field includes eight contenders who are seeking to fill the seat that U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III is giving up as he challenges U.S. Sen. Ed Markey this election cycle. Out of the eight candidates who responded to a News Service request for their positions on the major voting reform, seven voiced concrete support for the ballot question — an initiative that appears designed to come into play in races with large fields just like the one the candidates are competing in in the Fourth Congressional race.

Natalia Linos, Ihssane Leckey, Ben Sigel, Jake Auchincloss, Jesse Mermell, Becky Grossman, and Alan Khazei all voiced support for the initiative, saying ranked choice voting increases representation of people of color, boosts election participation and encourages candidates to appeal to a wider base of voters."

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)  https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20200820/candidates-in-4th-district-primary-back-ranked-choice-voting?rssfeed=true

"U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi endorsed fellow Democratic House member Joe Kennedy III on Thursday in his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Edward Markey in the Democratic primary.

Pelosi said when Democrats were working to take back control of the House from Republicans during the 2018 elections, Kennedy stumped for candidates across the country.

“From climate change to health care to racial justice, Joe has been a leader in our Caucus organizing us around our core values,” Pelosi said in a press release. “We need leaders who are willing to give every inch of themselves to the causes and concerns that unify Democrats. Joe Kennedy represents this Party’s future,”

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)

https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20200820/pelosi-endorses-kennedy-in-democratic-us-senate-primary?rssfeed=true

Ballot question 2 - ranked choice voting

From the Boston Globe, an article of interest for Franklin:

Beyond picking winners this fall, Massachusetts voters will be asked to consider something very meta: Should they change how they choose them?

After centuries of residents picking one candidate per office, a question on November’s ballot proposes they instead rank their preferred choices in both primary and general elections for an array of elected seats. Should it pass, Massachusetts would have the second statewide — and most extensive — ranked-choice voting system in the country.

Implementing the new system would mean the person who receives the most first-place votes in a race with several candidates could, in fact, lose. If there is no candidate with a majority of votes, the last-place candidate is eliminated and his or her voters’ second and subsequent choices are re-distributed.

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)   https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/22/metro/should-person-with-most-number-one-votes-always-win/

The summary of Ballot Question 2

https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2019/09/04/FINAL%20SUMMARY%2019-10.pdf

"Ranked-choice voting would be used only in races where a single candidate is to be declared the winner and not in races where more than one person is to be elected."

Hence ranked choice voting would NOT be used for the Franklin Town Council or School Committee elections.

For other information to prepare for the Primary (on Sep 1) and Election (on Nov 3) visit the 2020 Election Collection https://www.franklinmatters.org/2020/08/2020-election-collection.html

Ballot question 2 - ranked choice voting

"Advocates said ranked choice voting increases voter engagement and increases diversity in elections"

From the Milford Daily News, articles of interest for Franklin:

"Activists met last week at the State House to celebrate progress on ranked choice voting efforts and highlight bills that would allow municipalities to enact the voting reform at the local level, and legalize the process statewide.

“We’re all here in this shared effort to ensure that every voter in Massachusetts has a greater voice when they go to the polls,” said Mac D’Alessandro, state director for Voter Choice Massachusetts, which organized the event.

The group gathered activists from across the state for a lobby day featuring meetings with legislators to discuss the issue.

“We need to do everything we can to expand voting enfranchisement and expand access to voting rights and democracy,” said state Sen. Jason Lewis, D-Winchester. “Ranked choice voting is an important strategy to move us in that direction.”

Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required)
https://www.milforddailynews.com/news/20190720/ranked-choice-pitched-as-inclusive-election-reform

Other Ranked Choice Voting or RCV references

• From Ballotpedia  https://ballotpedia.org/Ranked-choice_voting_(RCV)
• From FairVote  https://www.fairvote.org/rcv#where_is_ranked_choice_voting_used
• From wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranked_voting

Sample ballot of ranked voting using written numbers