So I got a lot of not Americans answering, I got a lot of '2) If I vote third party my vote will be wasted because nobody else will.' answers.
I have a solution for this, let me know what you think.
I think the US should go back to a 2 vote system, where everyone casts 2 votes. One vote for one candidate, and a second for another. The reason we should do this is because then the democrats will most likely vote democrat and a third party, and the republicans will vote republican and a third party. Through this system third parties will be brought into play. After the 2016 election many new parties will be formed I am guessing, due to the unrest and unsatisfactory candidates for the major parties.
Imagine a party for every spot on the political spectrum and a party for every type of moderate.
Did the US used to use an Alternative/Ranked Vote system? That's what you're talking about, right?
When electing a house of representatives, this type of system fixes some problems with FPTP, but creates a bunch more, and doesn't necessarily make things more proportional. It does give a voter more choice, though, which is nice.
A proportional representation system may as well just be used if you're looking for a way to allow every political spectrum viewpoint to have a shot.
I mean the fact there is only one 'seat' kinda makes it hard to get a good voting system, but something like STV may be useful, if people know how to use it. Then third parties could have a chance to thrive.
This is totally true, except the voters are techincally voting for delegates, which are awarded on a state-wide FPTP basis where winner takes ALL delegates for that state. A couple states (I think Maine is one) have decided to award their delegates
proportionally instead, which seems a good solution for all of the states to put into place.