Range Voting
Charlie will institute "Range
Voting" for all county offices.
Range voting may be a new term for most
people, but it's a concept nearly everyone has used. Rather than simply
selecting a single candidate for an office, the voter ranks each
candidate on a preset scale so that their level of support for each
candidate is accurately represented. Think of it like the 4-Star
rating system for movie reviews. Maybe more than one candidate appeals to
the voter, they can both receive the maximum support of four stars
without worrying about creating a spoiler. Likewise, maybe a candidate
only has a few points that the voter supports, they can receive one or
two stars. And then if a candidate is absolutely abhorrent to the voter,
they will receive no stars.
Straight Ticket Voting
Charlie will remove the "Straight Ticket" option on all ballots in the county. It is ridiculous to think that a person can mark one box on their ballot and vote for possibly a dozen people without even reading their names or knowing for whom they are exactly voting.
Raising Revenue
In order to pay for retooling voting machines and educating the public for this switch to Range Voting, Charlie will raise money for the Clerk's office by deregulating the marriage license. The current Clerk will only issue licenses to heterosexual couples that can produce proof of citizenship. Charlie will instead issue licenses to all couples, of legal age, regardless of sexual orientation or immigration status. This should account for an increase of revenue of at least 10% and allow Charlie to carry forward these changes without raising fees or using any additional tax money.