Why Bullet Vote?

Because of how our Fort Bragg voting system (at-large multi-seat plurality) works, it's possible for a candidate that nobody really cares about to collect more votes than the candidates that voters really do care about.

...meaning that it's possible for someone nobody really wanted to get into office.

I call this the Lukewarm Candidate Upset phenomenon, and the math to prove it is really quite simple, making it even more shocking once you see what's happening.

This is possible because we do not vote for each seat as a separate race. So, if it's three seats that are open, instead of us voting for one candidate for Seat A, one candidate for Seat B, and one candidate for Seat C, we just vote for three candidates to fill three seats, and all those votes get lumped together. The top three vote-getters get the seats. End of story.

The reality is, however, that most of us only have one or two candidates we really want. But we feel that we MUST use our other vote(s). So who do we give it to? ...Someone we may not really know or want, but who seems "acceptable" (often based on very little information).

It is by doing this that we risk undermining the candidate(s) we really do want.

This is why we Bullet Vote.

Bullet Voting means to simply vote ONLY for those candidates you really want to see win. If you really only like one candidate, use only one vote. If it's two, use two.

You are not legally or morally obligated to use all of your votes. Your ballot will not be "spoiled" if you Bullet Vote. The votes you DO USE will be counted.

If every voter in Mendocino County used Bullet Voting, the results would actually be a more accurate representation of who the voters really want in office, not muddled by votes for lukewarm candidates nobody cares about.

Bottom line: Vote only for who you want to see in office, even if that means leaving votes unused. Don't allow a lukewarm candidate to compete with your preferred candidate(s).

That's Bullet Voting.