It's way past time for ranked balloting.

Right now, you can only vote for one person. If your chosen rep is in third place, your vote just disappears; you no longer have any say. Only the voters of the winning candidate count.

That's shameful.

The Big Idea: Ranked Balloting

Let's say we have four candidates; A, B, C and D.

You really like candidate C, but darn it, they're just not going to win this time.

Jussst a few votes short, and under this system, your voice is silenced.

That's shameful.

Under a ranked balloting system, you would rank your choices; let's say you went C, A, D and decided you couldn't vote for D under any circumstances.

C gets eliminated, but your voice and your vote now continue; your votes join with the original votes for A.

What if A gets eliminated too, but more people voted for A, B and C than for D combined?

Under our current system, D would just win, leaving A, B and C voters - you - out in the cold.

That's not cool.

Under a Ranked Ballot system, your vote would endure, meaning that B would win. It might not be your perfect choice, but at least you got to vote for your perfect choice FIRST (eliminating the need to vote strategically "against" a candidate) AND your voice got heard.

It's a cycle; parties who aren't in power think that ranked balloting is a GREAT idea.

Parties who are in power never want to implement it.

Again, that tells you where those parties' interests lie, and it's not with you.

I will push HARD for a ranked-ballot system, and I will relentlessly point out exactly why those parties in power won't give it to you; they only want their base's voice to matter.