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This piece originally ran in Krist Novoselic's weekly blog post on The Daily Weekly. You can read all Novoselic's work here.
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I am so excited that Dave Grohl is running for president!! Even considering the current field of great candidates, Dave's my man—hands down. And I thought nothing would keep me from voting Democrat this fall!
His ability to lead is without question. The Foo Fighters have rocked the world with their message of compassion and hope. In Nirvana, Dave's drumming was dependably powerful. He's a straight shooter both with drum fills and policy proposals.
The primary season has seen youth participation skyrocket. Most of the new/young voters are turning out for Sen. Obama. Republicans should worry about this fall: A sleeping giant has been aroused. This constituency only needs to bump up turnout by as few as two or three percentage points in places like Florida, Ohio, or Missouri to turn those states blue.
Even though Grohl's entry is a wonderful development in the '08 campaign, independent and third-party candidacies dependably elicit anti-democratic rhetoric that discourages participation.
Dave Grohl supported John Kerry in '04, so it's safe to say the independent candidate leans Democratic. With Obama on the ballot as president or VP (the nominations are still under way), many will be afraid that Grohl will cut into the Democrat's youth vote.
We Grohl voters will have to endure discouragement from people who deem one of the greatest musicians on earth a spoiler candidate. They'll lecture us on wrecking the election. We'll get an earful about throwing our vote away and get all this grief only because we want to vote our conscience!
There are as many ballot access laws as there are states. Never mind the administrative barriers—he'll have to face partisan skullduggery. The political establishment will be well aware of Grohl's power with the youth vote. One major party could work to keep him off the ballot for fear of losing votes, while the other major could work to get him on to wreck the opposition!
And people wonder why voters are cynical and don't participate!?!?!
I'm calling on David Eric Grohl to join the leading Democratic and Republican candidates and support Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). Both Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama support this important reform.
With Ranked Choice, I could put an independent like Grohl as my first choice and a major-party candidate as my second.
Those who are new to Ranked Choice can be put off at first. I see that thousand-yard stare as people try to deduce fractions in their heads. It's not that complicated.
RCV is simple if you look at it as a majoritarian voting system. Most are familiar with traditional majority voting, and if not, here's how it works. If a candidate gets more than 50 percent of votes, he or she wins. But if no one receives a majority, the last-place candidate is eliminated and ballots are redistributed. Some voters, whose first choice was out, will need to put down a second in this round. Ballots are counted again until one candidate receives the majority.
RCV is similar but more efficient. Instead of physically distributing another round, second-ranked choices are already on the ballots. Second and third choices are distributed to the remaining candidates until there's a majority.
RCV is basically the same system as traditional majority voting.
With Ranked Choice, there's no more spoiler. Instead of going negative, each major campaign would try to woo the independent and his supporters. For example, the Democrat would want to endorse the independent and not split the important youth constituency.
In San Francisco, where they have nonpartisan RCV, rival candidates were not only endorsing each other, they were co-hosting events. I can totally see Obama getting down with Grohl! (But I hear McCain can bring da house down with the best of them!!)
There are more benefits to RCV. I advocate this reform because it tears down barriers. People of all ages are encouraged to participate instead of being put down.
