On October 29, Congressman Alcee Hastings (D-Florida) introduced HR 3972, which would set up a commission to study alternatives to the current system by which voters choose members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill suggests that the Commission would study proportional representation and cumulative voting. The Commission would also study whether the size of the U.S. House should be increased, and it would study how U.S. citizens who live in the District of Columbia and U.S. territories may obtain voting representation in the U.S. House.
The bill only has five co-sponsors so far, and they happen to all be from the District of Columbia or from one of the U.S. territories. Thanks to Dave Kadlecek for this news.
Interesting that the five co-sponsors are:
Rep Bordallo, Madeleine Z. [GU] – 10/29/2009
Rep Christensen, Donna M. [VI] – 10/29/2009
Rep Faleomavaega, Eni F.H. [AS] – 10/29/2009
Rep Norton, Eleanor Holmes [DC] – 10/29/2009
Rep Sablan, Gregorio [MP] – 10/29/2009
Non-voting representatives from Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the District of Columbia, and the Northern Mariana Islands. And that’s particularly interesting when we look at item #5 of the duties of the “Congress 2014 Commission”:
/=========================================
SEC. 3. DUTIES OF COMMISSION.
The Commission shall–
(1) analyze the current size of the
membership of the House of Representa-
tives considering the requirement for
the institution to carry out its respon-
sibilities in an effective manner under
the challenges of the new century;
(2) examine alternatives to the current
method by which Representatives are
elected (including cumulative voting
and proportional representation) to
determine if such alternatives would
make the House of Representatives
a more representative body;
(3) provide consideration to the
continuing dissolution of adherence
to the platforms and candidates of the
Nation’s two major political parties
as well as to the reduction in elec-
toral participation by the citizenry;
(4) consider whether alternative
methods of electing House Members
might include more citizens in the
electoral process;
(5) examine methods of providing
greater representation in the House
of Representatives for the people
of the District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American
Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana
Islands, and the United States Virgin
Islands;
(6) to the extent necessary, formulate
proposals for changes in the size of the
membership of, and the method of electing
Representatives to, the House of Repre-
sentatives; and
(7) not later than the end of the
One Hundred Twelfth Congress, submit to
the President and the Congress a report
of the work of the Commission, together
with a draft of legislation (including
technical and conforming provisions)
to implement the proposals referred to
in paragraph (6).
=========================================/
Also interesting that PR and cumulative voting are the only named alternative methods, but the commission’s work wouldn’t be limited to them. And that reference to “continuing dissolution of adherence to the platforms and candidates of the Nation’s two major political parties” sounds promising, too . . . except that the commission’s 17 members would include:
* 3 members appointed by the President.
* 5 each by the Speaker of the House and the Minority Leader.
* 2 each by the Majority and Minority Leaders in the Senate.
And nothing requires that we the plurality of the people who are not either R or D be represented on the commission. But still, it’s a start. . . .
I would support the use of a system where the voters get 1 vote each, 1 yes vote and 1 no vote. So, in 2000, if you were a Nader voter, you could be able to give Nader a yes vote and Gore or Bush a no vote. I’d also support the option of NOTA on the ballot. Voters don’t have to give both a yes vote and a no vote if they don’t want to.
REAL election reform – Const Amdt —
Uniform definition of Elector-Voter in ALL of the U.S.A. — even for the folks in DC and the U.S.A. colonies.
P.R. and A.V.
— repeal all of the accumulated *negative* stuff in 14-2, 15, 19, etc.
NO party hack commission is needed.
Are the top Donkeys worried about another 1994 type gerrymander wipeout of Donkeys in the minority rule gerrymander U.S.A. House of Reps. — thus the mention of P.R. in HR 3972 ???
Derek, that’s actually one of the best ideas I’ve ever heard.
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Or maybe each voter would be able to cast positive or negative votes for any candidate they want. For example, on the ballot you have Obama, McCain, Nader and Barr, you could vote for Nader and Barr and against Obama and McCain. Of course, you could also be able to not cast a vote at all.
Expatriate voters can currently continue to vote in the state in which they last resided, no mater how long absent nor what if any intention they have to return. One solution to the inability of residents of “non-states” to vote might be to allow affiliation of territorial residents with a state of their individual choosing for voting purposes. The Constitution (Article I, Section 2) says: “The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States…”.
Note that it does NOT say “people RESIDING in the several States”, it says “people OF the several States.”
Current non-voting citizens of territories (those who also pay federal taxes), could perhaps, like expatriates, be allowed to register and vote as “affiliated” rather than resident state citizens, in a state of their choosing (perhaps the choice of affiliation could be made/changed at each Census-taking?)