Text for the lazy.
Duverger’s Law
In political science, Duverger’s law holds that single-ballot plurality-rule elections (such as first past the post) structured within single-member districts tend to favor a two-party system.
Duverger’s law is the reason why U.S. voters select one of the two leading candidates when voting tactically, even if a third-party candidate would better represent their interests. This behavior arises out to fear of vote splitting
One consequence of Duverger’s law is that you can improve the viability of third-party candidates by changing the voting system. For example, Approval voting is more resistant to vote splitting and therefore more conducive to third-party candidates.
Yes, and until we DO change the voting system, vote blue or trump gets his way.
STAR or 3-2-1 voting are both much much better options than Approval Voting. Please advocate for one of those two rather than Approval or RCV. Yes, Approval is much better than RCV, but we’re only going to get one chance to change voting systems. If it goes wrong locales will switch back and never try again.
Cool, now I can really strut my stuff. Whenever someone comments “first past the post is bad” or “2-party systems suck” I can reply “Duverger’s law!”
