Letters to the editor for Feb. 15
Ranked choice voting could save democracy
America’s political system has become infected with extremism. This polarization is paralyzing government because the two political parties are so far apart they seldom compromise on anything. Hence, little to nothing gets done. This is nuts.
Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is a way out of this mess. RCV is an election process where voters get to rank candidates by preference. This means you get a first-choice vote, a second-choice vote, a third-choice vote and sometimes more, for all the candidates. Then, if no candidate gets a majority of the first-place votes, the one with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated and those who voted for this eliminated candidate have their second-choice vote elevated to first and another count is made. If no candidate wins a majority again, the process is repeated until someone does.
Yes, I know, RCV can seem complex, but it’s not. It selects for elected people who appeal to the political middle instead of either extreme. It selects for those who want to work with the other side to find the best solution for us all. RCV engenders compromise which then produces a better functioning government.
House Bill 1592 is up for consideration this session and would establish RCV for our presidential primaries. This is a start, and one that will hopefully open voters’ eyes to the beauty of RCV. Please show support for HB 1592 specifically and RCV in general. Call, write, or email your legislators and make campaign donations.
Steve Shanewise, Olympia
We need accountability for all
“You are responsible for the consequences of your actions.” I can still hear the tone of my mother’s voice when she admonished me and my siblings for messing up. She meant business. If we carelessly broke something, we had to fix it or pay for its replacement out of our allowance. We had to apologize, and mean it. Being accountable applied to all three of her children; nobody got off the hook.
Accountability is still a cornerstone of my personal ethic and why I so strongly support the passage of a bill making its way through the legislature: House Bill 1025, Access to Fairness. This is a police reform bill that would finally include all law enforcement officers among those who can be held accountable for egregious acts of misconduct.
Currently, you and I do not have the right to take legal action against an officer who violates our constitutional rights. This lack of accountability at the basic individual level is a problem that can be fixed by passing HB 1025. Nobody is above the law, especially the people we entrust with enforcement of the law.
Contact your state legislators today. Yes on HB 1025.
Tyra Lindquist, Olympia
Vance is wrong about housing HB 1110 will provide
The opinion by Chris Vance shows why House Bill 1110 will not provide the housing that he assumes the bill will provide.
HB 1110 will rezone all cities over 6,000 people to allow multi-family buildings everywhere. The reason this will not work is that state legislators assume that private builders will instantly start building thousands of 4-plexes and 6-plexes to increase housing units.
Private builders are not interested in building multi-family units because they don’t make much profit this way. There needs to be financing incentives and planning by state legislatures to push private investment to build multi-family housing.
Another problem is that even this approach will not supply affordable housing. The legislature must understand that there are two kinds of housing, Market Rate Housing and Affordable Housing. The legislature must provide financing directives for affordable multi-family housing. HB 1110 will not help at all to increase housing units and affordability.
John Newman, Olympia