Re:The Absolute Gerrymandering Fix
by landric on Monday December 04, 2017 @07:27PM
(#15848825)
Not trying to be a jerk, but calling it "[your] design" is a strong characterization. It's called proportional representation, and used in (...quick Wikipedia check...) 87 countries around the world already. Not saying it's a bad idea. It's just not a new one.
One downside to PR is that you lose the sense of having "my representative" in Congress. When an Illinoisian (to use your article's example) disagrees with a policy, who do you call? Each of the 18 representatives on the two party lists? Maybe.
(and yes, I would concede that with extreme gerrymandering, the geographic sense of "my representative" is also dead in lots of places now... though at least you have a person to call and hold accountable)
An alternative -- that was recently passed by voter referendum in Maine -- is the Single Transferrable Ballot (or ranked voting), which retains single-member districts, and opens the door for greater than two parties, even with voters choosing strategically.
One downside to PR is that you lose the sense of having "my representative" in Congress. When an Illinoisian (to use your article's example) disagrees with a policy, who do you call? Each of the 18 representatives on the two party lists? Maybe.
(and yes, I would concede that with extreme gerrymandering, the geographic sense of "my representative" is also dead in lots of places now... though at least you have a person to call and hold accountable)
An alternative -- that was recently passed by voter referendum in Maine -- is the Single Transferrable Ballot (or ranked voting), which retains single-member districts, and opens the door for greater than two parties, even with voters choosing strategically.