Why do we have a two-party system in this country? It turns out that the major reason has to do with our system for tabulating votes. Check out electionmethods.org, and read about the Condorcet method, which is their recommendation for a voting system. [Alas, electionmethods.org no longer displays this, but you can read about the Condorcet method in the Wikipedia.]

The bottom line is that the Condorcet method, along with approval voting, allow voters to specify who they are voting for, and not who they are voting against.

In a dictatorship or other autocracy there is only one choice. In our current voting system we have only two choices. Much better, but there is certainly room for improvement. In the Condorcet method, as with others, the voter ranks their preferences, so that they can indicate not only who they would prefer, but also who they would be willing to tolerate.

It’s exciting to imagine elections held using these methods. Certainly I would feel like my vote was a much better representation of my intent as a citizen. I have a hard time, however, imagining why the parties in power would be motivated at all to implement election reform, since it greatly increases the chance of one or both of them being unseated by third parties.