Election Reform: Improving Our Representative Democracy

By Linden Hsu

Our election system is in need of reform at the local, state, and federal levels. The following paragraphs explain why and suggest solutions.

Part I

Currently, in a race where three or more candidates are vying for a single seat office, it is likely that the person receiving the most votes may not have more than fifty percent. In a plurality system, that person wins and is elected by a minority of voters. The majority is left without representation--or at least not very good representation. In a two round run-off system, the top two vote-getters compete in a special election often with the winner receiving fewer votes than the second place candidate did in the first election. Holding that special election cost taxpayers time and money and requires the candidates to do additional campaigning and fundraising. Both systems work poorly to provide the electorate a means to select from a variety of candidates.

The solution is to use Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) for single seat offices being contested by three or more candidates. IRV ensures that the winner receives a majority of votes with the voters only needing to show up at the polls once. Each voter selects his/her favorite candidate and runoff choices by ranking them 1-2-3-etc. The candidate with a majority of 1st choice votes wins. If no candidate has a majority, a runoff is held. Since the voters have already specified their runoff choices, they do not need to return to the polls. The candidate with the lowest number of votes is eliminated and the votes of the people who selected him/her are transfered to the remaining candidates based upon their favorite remaining choices. (Note that a person whose candidate has not been eliminated still has his/her vote allocated.) The process of eliminating candidates and transferring votes repeats until a candidate receives a majority.

A brief list other benefits to IRV are:

• Ensures winners earn majority support
• Prevents elections from being swung by a "spoiler"
• Promotes positive campaigning
• Reduces the influence of special interests
• Saves taxpayers the expense of a runoff election
• Boosts voter turnout

For more details on Instant Runoff Voting, visit <http://www.calirv.org>

Part II

If none of the individuals who are supposed to represent you share your opinions, what sort of representation will you receive?

The present systems to elect multi-member bodies (such as City Council, State Senate/Assembly, Congress, etc.) have a serious defect. (Actually, they have many defects, but I will focus on only one here.) The systems perform poorly at providing representation for a diversity of opinion. The systems usually identify and elect those candidates that have the largest--though not necessarily majority--support. However, the voters who did not select the winning candidates because their opinions differed are not represented or, at best, receive poor representation. The problem does not change by merely adding more representatives since the current systems will just elect more of the same.

The solution is to use Proportional Representation (PR) for electing members to multi-seat bodies. PR promotes the ideal that elected bodies are a reflection of their constituents. This meshes well with our culture of democracy which relies upon the doctrine that the majority opinion rules and the minority opinion is represented. PR cultivates elected bodies having views (opinions, morals, philosophies, cultures, backgrounds, etc.) in proportion to those of the electorate. One way to implement PR is similar to that used with IRV. The method is called Choice Voting (also known as Single Transferrable Vote). Voters rank the candidates in order of preference, 1-2-3-etc. The count begins. Once each voter's 1st choice is elected or eliminated, the excess votes are transferred to subsequent preferences until all positions are filled. (Excess votes are those that have not elected a member.) Thus, each voter gets to elect a member.

A brief list of other benefits to PR are:

• Majority rule plus minority representation
• Promotes coalition building
• Promotes positive campaigning
• Reduced effects of big money
• More choices
• Boosts voter turnout

For more details on Proportional Representation, visit <http://www.fairvoteca.org>

The election system used has a strong affect on the quality of representation received. Officials elected for single seat offices should have majority support. Representative bodies should reflect the views of the electorate. The present election system fails to do both and discourages a diversity of opinion from being represented. Instant Runoff Voting and Proportional Representation offer better ways to measure and represent the will of the people.

For more information on Election Reform, visit <http://www.fairvote.org>