CI-126 IS AN EXTREMIST DREAM COME TRUE

• Blogs Home
• More Posts

Steve Fitzpatrick, Senate District 10 Monday, October 28th, 2024   1:00pm  

If you are like me, you were probably taught that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. This principle certainly applies to CI-126. While the supporters of CI-126 are claiming it will make politics in Montana better, the opposite is true. CI-126 will make our politics worse and more extreme.

CI-126 is an extremist dream come true. CI-126 creates a plurality voting system where four candidates, regardless of party, advance to the general election. Plurality voting systems like CI-126 do not result in more moderation or more representative government. Plurality voting systems like CI-126 allow candidates with extreme views and limited bases of support to compete and win elections.

You don’t need to take my word for it. It is what the supporters of CI-126 said in the 2024 Montana voter information pamphlet in support of their companion initiative CI-127. According to the supporters of CI-126, voting systems which allow a candidate to win with less than a majority of the vote enable “candidates to focus on narrow interests and win elections without representing a majority of their constituents.”

“Narrow interests” is a charitable way of putting it. Under CI-126, a person could win elected office with as little as 26% of the vote. This means a candidate with extreme and radical views could easily be elected to office. Eight years ago, my primary election opponent suggested it would be appropriate to put a “bullet” in me at a Cascade County Republican Central Committee meeting. Under CI-126, he would easily advance into the general election and could potentially win elected office.

Top four voting systems do not result in a better field of candidates. Alaska uses a top four voting system like the one contemplated by CI-126. This year’s field for Alaska’s U.S. House seat includes a convicted felon serving a 20 year sentence for threatening to kill judges and police officers and another candidate who wants to “free the Nation State of Alaska.” If CI-126 had been in place in 2018, the top four candidates in the Montana House District 21 race could have included a former KKK organizer.

CI-126 will make a mess out of our political system. With up to four candidates running for elected office, it will mean more money and more advertising. If you are tired of the ads today, image four candidates running for a U.S. Senate seat, all with the possibility of winning office with a small minority of the vote. There are all types of “narrow interests” who could easily afford to spend millions of dollars to elect a Governor, Congressman, or U.S. Senator to serve their interests, not yours, under the system contemplated by CI-126.

We do not need to make our politics more unrepresentative and more extreme. CI-126 is not a solution to the problems in our political system today; it is a recipe for disaster. Protect our democracy by voting against CI-126.

Steve Fitzpatrick, Senate District 10, Montana Senate Majority Leader