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Well, the ugly, mud slinging contest that passed for Virginia's gubernatorial election is officially over. Now maybe we can clean up all the campaign signs that are littering the streets and highways, and we won't have to see a character assassination during every television commercial break.
As I was voting yesterday, I couldn't help but think of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
skyring and our discussions about the different voting systems in our countries. It would have been nice to have been able to rank the candidates on the ballot yesterday, the way they do in Australia.
There were three names on the ballot for Governor this year. There was one candidate that I actually wanted to vote for, the one who spoke his mind, even when what he had to say wasn't popular. Unfortunately, he had exactly ZERO chance of winning. Now if I was feeling ambivalent about the other two candidates (or if the outcome of the contest between the other two had been a foregone conclusion), I still might have voted for my favorite candidate. Unfortunately, I absolutely did NOT want one of the other two candidates to win, and the contest was too close to call going into yesterday. So, while I was lukewarm (at best) about the other major candidate, I voted for him as a defensive measure to ensure that the other guy didn't win.
Now if I could rank the candidates the way the Australians do, I could have picked the long-shot candidate as my favorite, and still been able to indicate my preferences between the two competitive candidates. Seems like that would let me feel better as I leave the voting booth.
As I was voting yesterday, I couldn't help but think of
skyring and our discussions about the different voting systems in our countries. It would have been nice to have been able to rank the candidates on the ballot yesterday, the way they do in Australia.There were three names on the ballot for Governor this year. There was one candidate that I actually wanted to vote for, the one who spoke his mind, even when what he had to say wasn't popular. Unfortunately, he had exactly ZERO chance of winning. Now if I was feeling ambivalent about the other two candidates (or if the outcome of the contest between the other two had been a foregone conclusion), I still might have voted for my favorite candidate. Unfortunately, I absolutely did NOT want one of the other two candidates to win, and the contest was too close to call going into yesterday. So, while I was lukewarm (at best) about the other major candidate, I voted for him as a defensive measure to ensure that the other guy didn't win.
Now if I could rank the candidates the way the Australians do, I could have picked the long-shot candidate as my favorite, and still been able to indicate my preferences between the two competitive candidates. Seems like that would let me feel better as I leave the voting booth.
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