A dinner guest who wants to fix America’s democracy

Who would turn down fresh fish and the offer to learn more about election reform, wonders Andrew Buncombe

Seattle has long had a reputation for democratic activism (AFP/Getty)

Come for dinner,” said my Seattle neighbours Judith and Hank. “We have a friend who is trying to help improve democracy.”

My neighbours are wonderful cooks, and warm hosts, who in the summer months will often drop off some bounty from their vegetable garden that they cannot make use of. An invitation to eat at their table is always enticing.

And in these troubled times, when faith in the nation’s democratic system is so fragile, who is going to turn down the chance to hear directly from someone with a plan to improve it? Yes, we said. Yes, please.

The friend was Troy Davis, a tech entrepreneur and all-round very pleasant man who is co-chair of a group called Seattle Approves, which launched a campaign last year to try and give voters here in the US a chance to use a system called “approval voting”.

The system is similar to ranked-choice voting, but with approval voting, people don’t need to rank their choice, but can indicate as many candidates they’d be happy with. If only one of the candidates fits that description, people would vote for just that person. But if there are many people would be happy with as mayor or attorney general, they can vote for any many candidates as possible.

“Seattle voters deserve the most representative elections and leaders,” Troy said when the campaign was launched. “Our goal is simple: make Seattle’s elections as fair and representative as possible. We’re thrilled to propose an easy, non-partisan, candidate-neutral change which does exactly that.”

Initially, Troy’s idea sounded complicated, and we were rather distracted by the delicious meal our hosts had created (baked fish and homemade bread.) Then he pulled out of his phone and showed us what a ballot would look like using approval system.

At the top of the list of names of candidates it says: “Vote for all you approve of.” The system would only be used in the primary; in the general election people could cast just one vote. Suddenly it started to make sense.

Approval voting is used in just two other US cities: Fargo, South Dakota, and St Louis, Missouri. Yet, it is used in many other places around the world.

The activists, who received $160,000 in funding from the Centre for Election Science, a nonprofit national think tank, say studies show that approval voting increases the level of so-called “voter satisfaction efficiency” or VSE.

Troy gave an example of the primary for Seattle’s mayor that was held last summer and which saw 10 candidates complete.

“Jessyn Farrell received 7 per cent of the vote and Colleen Echohawk received 10 per cent, but the actual percentage of the electorate that supported both of those candidates was probably at least twice as high, maybe even higher,” he said. “Voters felt like they’d be “wasting” their votes on candidates who can’t win. A lot of people are stuck voting based on how they think other voters will vote, not based on their actual preferences.”

Jameson Quinn, a statistician from Harvard University, has written about VSE and how various methods of voting measure up.

“A VSE of 100 per cent would mean an impossibly perfect method; 0 per cent or lower would mean that the society would be better off picking a winner at random,” he wrote. “To calculate VSE, you simulate thousands of elections, using voters who cluster on issues in a realistic way. Since the voters are simulated, you can know exactly how satisfied they would be by each candidate; that is, how close the candidate is on the issues they care about.”

Of approval voting, he says the VSE is around 89-95 per cent.

“That’s not the best of the methods I tested, but it certainly is the best ‘bang for the buck’; a simple reform, with basically no downsides, which improves outcomes hugely,” he says.

Seattle has often been at the forefront of initiatives that get picked up elsewhere in the country. It was the first major city to legislate a $15-per-hour minimum wage.

The campaigners say they believe approval voting will also be copied elsewhere. In November, the local election in Seattle received nationwide scrutiny after many centrist voters said the two candidates who emerged as the final choice for the city’s attorney general – Nicole Thomas-Kennedy, a self-described “abolitionist” who wanted to completely change the criminal justice system, and Ann Davison, a law and order Republican – were too extreme.

In the end, Ms Davison won the race for city attorney, the first woman to hold the position since 1875. While the position is officially non-partisan, it was the first time in three decades that job had been held by someone who described themselves as a Republican.

“I think a lot of us are disappointed in the choices that we have before us,” State senator David Frockt, a Democrat who represents Seattle, toldThe New York Times. “I am wary of both of them.”

Others in the city want to the state of Washington to adopt ranked voting. They argue that approval voting favours “middle of the road candidates”.

As it is, Troy and his group need to collect 26,000 signatures from voters by June. If they do, Seattle residents will have a choice to vote on the measure in November.

As a British citizen, I don’t get to vote. But I was interested to hear about this initiative. And I am glad I took up the invitation to dinner.

Yours,

Andrew Buncombe

Chief US correspondent