A Proposal for Electoral Reform
Part I
• Combine adjacent ridings into pairs so
as to reduce the number of districts toapproximately forty.
• Political parties will offer
candidates as in the existing system but, each (combined) district
will elect one, two or three representatives based on the
percentage of the votes cast. For example:
District A (Total votes 50,000), 3 Seats
Poll results
Party X
36% 18,000 votes
Party
Y 29% 14,500
votes
Party Z
27% 13,500votes
Others
8%
District B (Total votes 50,000), 2 seats
Poll results
Party X 60%
30,000 votes
Party Y
23% 11,500votes
Party Z
12% 6,000 votes
Others
5%
District C (Total votes 50,000), 2 seats
Poll
results
Party X 30
% 15,000 votes
Party Y
51% 25,500 votes
Party Z
18% 9,000 votes
Others
1%
Criteria:
• If Party X collects more than 80% of
the votes, that district will have 1 seat in the legislature.
• If 2 candidates garner a combined
total of over 80% then that district will have 2 seats in the
legislature
• If 3 candidates’ votes are
required to reach the 80% mark then that district will
be represented by 3 members
Part 11
Voting by Members on bills presented in the
legislature
For example, in District A:
• Party X will be able to cast 18,000
votes on the bill as he/she wishes
• Party Y will be able to cast 14,500 votes
for or against.
• Party Z will be able to cast 13,500 votes
as he/she wishes
A bill will be successful if the combined positive votes of 40
districts exceeds the combined votes of the opposition's, so that.
for example:
Total
voters
2,000.000
Total by Party
X
1,000,001
Total
opposed 999,999
The ‘government’ will be acutely aware
that any bill that is proposed will have to be palatable enough to
opposition members to garner their support (unless the government
has a clear majority of votes).
Party X may have the most sitting members but not necessarily
the most votes.
Alternative Choices
1. Representatives (elected members) will be free to cast all
(or a portion) of their allotment for or against a bill based on
their degree of agreement with the bill, and the perceived wishes
of their constituents.
2. With modern electronic devices members would (if desired) be
able to cast the allotment in secret; and total votes would not be
revealed until all votes were cast (electronically).
This would enable ‘government members’ to
protest their leaders proposals in secret.
3. The Representative government proposed will encourage more
citizen participation as more citizens will have power.
4. To limit the cost of running the legislature members could be
compensated based on the votes they got during the election (with a
base amount for each). (i.e. $20, 000 base plus a dollar or two or
three for each voter.)
[Entered online from a scanned document]