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Comment by lapcat | Hacker News Reader

The linked article is somewhat bizarre. It says "Many who voted for Lamont in the primary may have switched to Lieberman in the general election to ensure his victory over Republican Alan Schlesinger."

That's pure insanity. The 2006 Connecticut Senate election results were 50% Lieberman (I), 40% Lamont (D), 10% Schlesinger (R). The Republican was a non-factor who had no chance to win. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_United_States_Senate_elec...

Joe Lieberman was the longtime, well-known incumbent and former Vice Presidential nominee. That 2006 election didn't change the country in the least; it was just more of the same old, same old.

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Aren't you supporting their point?

You vote for the boring candidate because otherwise you might be wasting your vote. But maybe you really want a change, but the system discourages that by threatening you with a very unpopular option winning if you split the vote.

I don't understand. The vote was split between Democrats Lieberman and Lamont. Nobody voted for Lieberman because they were worried Schlesinger would win. Lamont himself beat Schlesinger by 30%. As the well-known longtime incumbent, Lieberman was ahead in the polls the entire general election. This was a reelection campaign, which he won. Anyone who wanted change could and did vote for Lamont.

You're not even counting the second preference of that 10% who voted Schlesinger which is enough on its own to put the race on a knife edge with a decent voting system.

Imagine a system where it was beneficial for someone to appeal to both sides? This is why its touted as a polarization reduction measure.

> You're not even counting the second preference of that 10% who voted Schlesinger which is enough on its own to put the race on a knife edge with a decent voting system.

Who do you think was their second preference? Lieberman was a "centrist" Democrat who gave a speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention endorsing McCain over Obama. Lamont criticized Lieberman for being too supportive of Republican policies.

I don't know. No one knows. That's why it's a good idea to ask them to express their preference in full.

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