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DAK
For me being an actor is an extension of being an activist. Every role I play, whether as part of a production or as part of who I am, is played with sincerity.

Aug 31, 2020, 20 tweets

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Why the USA needs a People's Primary with Approval Voting.
Know anyone who is tired of having too few acceptable options on the general election ballot, here in the USA. If so, please promote this with the hashtag #PeoplesPrimary & please Continue Readingโ€ฆ
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The so-called "primaries" and "caucuses" that are held by privately owned political parties are not government elections. In fact, they are not actually elections at all. They're part of a process used to decide who the people CAN & CANNOT vote for in the ACTUAL election.

More accurately, the so-called primaries are a step in the process of privately owned political parties making an official decision about which candidates they will allow the people to have listed on the ballots of the actual election, known in the USA as the general election.

In most cases, the elimination of a candidate by a political party does not make it actually impossible to vote for that candidate in the real election, but rather makes it much more difficult or PRACTICALLY impossible. That's bad enough. This should NEVER be done to the people!

As things are, it's very difficult a candidates to get themselves onto an elecion ballot without the help of a polotical party. It's even more difficult for the people to directly put a supported candidate on the ballot. The exact process & requirements vary with local laws.

What I'm proposing is that the people insist on having our own primary, in which we would be given an approval ballot listing all candidates registered with the government as a candidate for any open political office or seat. Each voter could vote to approve any such candidates.

Ideally the people would get a government run primary with full transparency, so that no private organization could deprive the people of popularly supported candidates being on the general election ballot. However, political parties should also use such a democratic process.

No existing options should be taken away from the voters. Instead, such a people's primary would be in addition to other first stage options already available to voters for getting a candidate onto the general election ballot. Ideally, write-in approval should also be supported.

Each approval vote cast would effectively count as a signature on a virtual petition to put the given candidate on the ballot in the second stage, the general election. That way no political party could deny the people having a candidate on the ballot that the people really want.

Because it's an approval vote, the voter would not have to narrow their support down to a single candidate. There would also be no need for anyone to circulate an actual petition to get the signatures of voters, although that would not cease to be an available course of action.

Unlike the first stage or primary season processes that people in the USA are used to, a People's Primary would be about helping voters make good candidates available to vote for in the general election, rather than reducing the number of available candidates worth voting for.

Of course, some people may be concerned that this would give us too many good options on the general election ballot, possibly splitting the vote, but we can deal with that. Wouldn't you rather there generally be more than zero good candidates instead of less than one?

Also, for the second stage or general election, I propose we adopt a Balanced Rational Instant Runoff Election System, so that the potential of splitting the vote would no longer be an issue. That way so many good options wouldn't have the potention to be a problem in any sense.

We need positive progressive political evolution and we need it fast. I proposed paring a #PeoplesPrimary with #BIRNY in the general election to get us moving in the direction of a better future for everyone with more real democracy.

We should also encourage a grassroots People's Campaign where individual people campaign for what they personally feel is most important. Please, if you feel this in important, add it to your #PeoplesCampaign and help spread the word. We need this #PositiveChange right away.

Read about Balanced Instant Runoff Normalized Yield at
threadreaderapp.com/thread/1297192โ€ฆ
if you would like to learn more.

My assessment is that combined with an approval style #PeoplesPrimary, this would give us the most fair elections anywhere ever. Think it over and see if you agree.

That link is to an unrolled copy of the Twitter thread at



which you can also open directly.

This campaign for a People's Primary and a Balanced Instant Runoff Normalize Yield general election are part of the People's Campaign. Because it's about time we stop relying on the system that oppresses us to stop itself from doing so.

#PeoplesPrimary #BIRNY #PeoplesCampaign

The start of this thread about a #PeoplesPrimary using #ApprovalVoting can be found on Twitter at

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Please, let's #UpgradeTheSystem so it works for everyone!
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