So, on this International Day of Democracy, let’s give some thought to how we can improve rather than impair our voting systems. My suggestions follow.

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Second, structure elections to overcome the spoiler effects of single-vote choices in multi-candidate races. 

This can be accomplished by preference voting, by which voters are asked to rank their candidates with their first, second and third choices. There are many ways to do this – ranked choice voting, approval voting or STAR voting. All have their challenges in added complexity for voting and vote counting. Still, if kept simple and understandable, these changes can work to force candidates to the center, rather than appeal to the extremes.

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