| Letters | Tampa Bay Times |
Your editorial lets Floridians know they don’t have to put up with the same old divisive politics. As your editorial notes, ranked choice voting would offer Floridians the opportunity to express their true preference instead of voting for the lesser of two evils, invites more candidates to participate, creates more solution-oriented campaigns and, most important, usually ensures that winners will have more than 50 percent of voter support.
We’ll get there.
For three years, Rank My Vote Florida has led a grassroots initiative to bring ranked choice voting to Florida. We made great strides in Sarasota last year with their city commission voting to move ahead with the ranked choice voting mandate passed by its voters. Clearwater and Gainesville were on deck to move ahead with ranked choice voting referenda based on Sarasota’s lead.
Then, as your editorial notes, the Florida Legislature passed a voting reform bill SB 524, which included a ban on ranked choice voting. This was done with zero discussion about its positive effects. We are seeking to reverse that legislation through voter education and awareness. We’ll get there.
John Severini, Lakewood Ranch
The writer is chairman of Rank My Vote Florida Inc.