A historical breakthrough as
the citizens of Burlington, Vermont elected their mayor with IRV Instant Runoff Voting, and he is a progressive from the Progressive Party. There was no "spoiler" "Nader" problem because people were able to rank choice their ballot. Howard Dean who supports IRV voted in the election.
Progressive Democrats know:
- They cannot win without the help of the Greens and other independent parties.
- Many Greens and independents are not coming back to the Democratic Party.
- The number of disidentified from either major party is increasing each year because they don't identify with either.
- There is a legislative remedy to the "spoiler" problem which is win-win for Democrats and Greens in districts that are naturally progressive.
This is the formula for success for Democrats. Greens and other progressive independents working together. We are not coming back to the Democratic Party. We will work as allies, but that is only possible when IRV is in place.
In Md. Kevin Zeese will run a very strong anti-war race as an independent candidate for the US Senate. He will probably cost Ben Cardin or whoever wins the primary votes and maybe even the seat. How have the Democrats reacted in Md?
They killed SB 292 IRV in a Senate committee last week. That bill would apply to presidential, congressional etc. all federal and state elections in Md. That decision unfortunately reflects old guard thinking. However, even with that setback, people in Md have not given up yet and there is still time to get a house version onto the floor and voted on.
Kevin Zeese letter to Ben Cardin on IRV and also recent Zeese testimony to the committee.
Progressive Democrats in Md. should contact their Delegates and ask them to sponsor such a bill. Vermont has similar legislation bottled up in committees.
As allies we win; divided we keep losing.
More diaries with more details.