Jim McKelvey for the St. Louis Business Journal: “Why our elected officials fail us — and how we can change it”

“Business innovation and economic growth benefit everyone. Elected officials should be clamoring to campaign on economic development and pass laws to promote innovation. So why do politicians instead choose to focus on divisive issues? 

Our ‘pick-one’ voting system has an accidental incentive built in that it encourages candidates to focus on what divides us, instead of what unites us. Fortunately, an obvious solution we routinely use in the private sector to find common ground is gaining momentum in government. 

In [an approval voting, pick-all-you-like system], leaders are rewarded for acting as collaborative problem-solvers. Since voters can choose more than one candidate, politicians are incentivized to engage the entire electorate, not just the small faction they previously had to win over. 

This need to appeal to a wider voting bloc not only changes the dynamics of elections, but of government itself. Partisans are tempered and true competition emerges, incentivizing politicians to focus on real issues like economic development and innovation.”

Read the full op-ed from the St. Louis Business Journal here.