General Principles (2018)

Support for:

1) We believe it is important that election systems:

• produce representation that reflects community sentiment,
• help increase voter participation by encouraging a broader range of candidates and more civil campaigns and
• are feasible to implement.

2) We also prefer election systems that:

• are easy for the voter to understand, both in terms of how to vote and how their vote is counted,
• help ensure minority views and interests have some influence in selecting elected officials,
• help raise the level of political campaigns by encouraging a focus on the issues and discouraging negative campaigning,
• maximize the power of each voter’s vote; and
• help promote more openness and responsiveness between candidates and constituents.

3)  If a majority of votes is required to win an election, Ranked Choice Voting (instant runoff) is the preferred method of determining such a majority. (There was no consensus on using a separate Run-off Elections to determine a majority.)

4)  If candidates are to be nominated by parties for the general election ballot, ballot access for non-principal parties should be improved:

• all recognized parties should have access to taxpayer-funded primary elections; and
• a non-principal party should retain its status if the number of registered voters affiliated with that party is equal to or greater than the number of signatures required to gain initial recognition.

Opposition to:

1) Reducing the number of signatures required for initial recognition as a party (10,000 at the time of the 2018 study)

2) Reducing the number of petition signatures for a candidate to qualify for the general election ballot without the nomination of a recognized political party (10,000 for statewide candidates or 1% of the eligible voters in the election district of the candidate at the time of the 2018 study).