The best election law bill in Congress is HB 3863, which Virginia Congressman Donald Beyer introduced on June 11, 2021. It would convert most U.S. House elections to the Single Transferable Vote system, and would create much larger U.S. House districts. If enacted, it would substantially ease the gerrymandering problem. Unfortunately, it has not gained any co-sponsors other than the original seven co-sponsors.
Millions of dollars are being spent by wealthy individuals to promote state initiatives to abolish partisan primaries and create top-four or top-five systems. It is unfortunate that those same individuals aren’t instead promoting HR 3863.
The original co-sponsors are Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Jim Cooper of Tennessee, Ro Khanna of California, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Scott Peters of California, Joe Neguse of Colorado, and Earl Blumenauer of Oregon. All are Democrats.
We really need a more prominent organization that promotes these types of systems; both STV and mixed-member proportional.
Even minor parties are obsessed with pushing these top x systems, or open primary systems, or instant run-off, none of which actually target the actual problem – party leadership controls every rank and file member and orders them to vote in certain ways.
More diverse primaries (open primaries wouldn’t actually create this, but say they do) wouldn’t solve the issue of party leadership barking orders to their members, they’re going to be expected to fall in line. IRV may get a consensus candidate but most will still feel unrepresented and voter participation will still stay low; top x systems have the flaws of BOTH IRV and Top X.
PR for Congressional elections is a non-starter because the districts it would require would be too large for effective contact between the members of Congress and their constituents. Current Congressional districts are too large for effective communication with constituents.
Many states have multi-member districts for election of state legislators. That is where we should start in promoting proportional representation.
How many States have MMD for state legis ??? –
NH and XX — solve for XX.
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How many States have local At Large (AtL) systems —
in LOW pop counties / townships / villages / cities ???
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LAST hope — 18 states with voter pets for state const amdts.
@Gene That’s why you add more seats. The house should be at least twice the size it is right now. France, Germany, and the UK all have close to a fifth of the US population and have a larger lower chamber than we do.
States with some legislative districts that elect more than one person are Arizona, Idaho, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, South Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia.
A minimum district size of 1000 square miles would leave most rural districts as single member districts. Multi member districts would be confined to metropolitan areas, where there would be enhanced representation for citizens because, by having several reps, most citizens could find at least one rep who would be supportive of a voter’s issues.
STATE/LOCAL CON LAW 0000001
A State/Local legislative body exists ONLY because ALL Electors/Voters can not assemble in person and vote on LB stuff- esp bills.
SCOTUS hacks — brain dead ignorant esp since 1962-1964 about such STATE/LOCAL CON LAW 0000001.
Fixation on defective / obsolete census pops via 14-2 since 1964 gerrymander cases.
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PR
SIMPLE PR –
EACH DIST TO HAVE 2-5 TIMES TOTAL VOTES LAST ELECTION / TOTAL MEMBERS.
PRE-ELECTION CANDIDATE RANK ORDER LISTS OF ALL OTHER CANDIDATES IN ALL DISTRICTS.
VOTERS VOTE FOR ONE.
TOTAL VOTES/TOTAL MEMBERS = RATIO.
SURPLUS VOTES DOWN
LOWEST LOSER VOTES UP.
ALL VOTES COUNT.