This brief submission is in three parts:
1) Who I am and my credentials;
2) On the threshold question of whether
to recommend some form of proportional representation (PR); and
3) Assuming you recommend PR, which
method is most suitable.
1) I live 40
minutes South of the Canadian border in Vermont, where I served ten
years as a city councillor and ten years as a member of the state
legislature as one of the very few minor party elected officials in
the USA. I retired from the legislature a few years ago. I have
studied and written extensively about voting systems, and work as
an elections policy analyst for the Center for Voting and
Democracy. I recently administered an STV election for a membership
organization with 100,000 voters.
2) To be
genuinely representative, a legislative body MUST reflect the full
breadth of the electorate's political beliefs, rather than just
those of the dominant group. Political debate and ultimate
decisions are enhanced by having diverse views included. As long as
winner-take-all election methods are used, the risk of wildly
unrepresentative legislative bodies exists. While the majority have
the right to decide policy, every voter should have the right to
representation in the policy making process. Having representation
means having an MP who shares the voter's values, rather than
merely lives near the voter's home (having been elected by people I
disagree with). I urge you in the strongest terms to recommend some
form of PR, as essential to a genuine representative democracy.
3) The most
suitable form of PR, I think, is the Irish system of Single
Transferable Voting (STV). Because this is a candidate-based voting
system (rather than party-based) it neatly handles independent
candidacies. While other forms (such as the German Mixed-Member
system have value as well, STV is better, I believe. There are a
number of political scientists, who specialize in voting systems
(such as Douglas Amy), who could put together a side-by-side chart
of pros and cons of each PR variant. I hope you will utilize such
experts.
Thank you for your inspiring work.
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