If You’re Out Of Mint Chocolate Chip, I’ll Take Vanilla November 8, 2021November 7, 2021 That’s all ranked-choice voting is, really. If I can’t have my first choice, at least let me specify my second. E.g.: > I really want Nader — but would prefer Gore to Bush. > I really want Bill Weld, but would prefer Jeb Bush (or anyone!) to Trump. As noted by Unite America, ranked-choice voting (also known as instant-runoff voting) is catching on. A record 31 municipalities used ranked choice voting for their elections on Tuesday. In cities like Minneapolis, Minnesota and Santa Fe, New Mexico, ranked choice voting helped elect city councils and mayors. And in the three cities where ranked choice voting was on the ballot — Ann Arbor, Michigan; Broomfield, Colorado; and Westbrook, Maine — voters overwhelmingly adopted the reform. Ranked-choice voting shifts power from the extremes back toward the center, which makes for less polarization and, ultimately, more compromise, comity, and progress. Two Republican state senators make the case for ranked-choice voting. As does this Deep Dive with Laura Arnold podcast. BONUS I’m not a runner because I’m lazy and because, even if I weren’t, there’s a limit to how long you can run on your toes before your calves burst. Or at least it feels that way. Coach Athans had told my 11-year-old self to “lean forward and run on your toes” on the first day of track practice . . . but forgot to add, “when you’re sprinting.” So –being obedient in all things — I just kept running on my toes for the next 35 years. I tell you all this because I’ve just finished listening to Phil Knight‘s Shoe Dog, the story of Nike, on Audible. What a life! I said the same thing Friday — what a life! — in recommending Alice Cooper on Audible and in linking to my friend Robby Browne‘s memorial. But there are so many remarkable people to meet. Speaking of which, meet one more: Don Katz, in this interview on NPR. I knew Don slightly when he wrote for Esquire. He then dreamed up Audible, scraped by for years; went public; saw his stock drop from $29 to a nickel . . . and, well — let him tell it. What a life! Have a great week.