skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Fargo Becomes First U.S. City to Try Approval Voting

play audio
Play

Wednesday, June 10, 2020   

FARGO, N.D. -- This week's municipal election in Fargo ushered in a new approach to the democratic process, as the city became the first in the nation to try "approval voting."

The system allows a voter to endorse as many people in a multi-candidate race as he or she likes. However, there aren't multiple winners; the candidate with the most votes still declares victory.

Aaron Hamlin, executive director of The Center for Election Science, which is helping spearhead the movement, said the current standard of deciding on one candidate has too many problems.

"And that really creates a lot of limitations for the voter, because it means they aren't able to fully express themselves," he said, "and we see all kinds of consequences, like vote-splitting between candidates and so on."

Skeptics of approval voting have wondered if voters still will be tempted to use ballot strategy by second guessing adding other choices so they don't harm their preferred candidate. They also have said a candidate still can win with less than 50% of the vote and not have a clear mandate to assume office. However, Hamlin said no voting method, including ranked choice, can ever guarantee a majority when there are more than two candidates.

Jed Limke, who chairs the group Reform Fargo, helped get the question of switching to approval voting on the 2018 ballot, where it passed. He said alternative methods, such as a runoff system, have other side effects, such as requiring multiple elections.

"That stretches the campaign season out, that drains the resources of the candidates," he said. "High costs for running as a candidate limit the ability for all citizens to run for office."

He said that's why approval voting is a better option; it doesn't require election authorities to incur added expenses for new software and other needs.

Elsewhere in the country, the option will be considered by St. Louis voters this fall, and there's a push to get it on the ballot in Colorado.

Disclosure: Center for Election Science contributes to our fund for reporting on Campaign Finance Reform/Money in Pol, Civic Engagement, Civil Rights. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

With hotter summers bringing hotter working conditions, the Maryland Department of Labor is implementing a heat stress standard to protect workers …

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

Social Issues

play sound

Women are treated much differently than men by the criminal justice system, according to a new report detailing how and why mass incarceration is …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021