Full representation (also known as "Proportional Represntation," or "PR") voting systems are used by most of the world's established democracies. Under PR, representatives are elected from multi-seat districts in proportion to the number of votes received. PR assures that political parties or candidates will have the percent of legislative seats that reflects their public support. A party or candidate need not come in first to win seats.
In contrast, in the United States we use "winner-take-all" single seat districts, where votes going to a losing candidate are wasted, even if that candidate garners 49.9% of the vote. This leaves significant groupings of voters unrepresented. Voters understand this possibility, and so often we do not vote for a candidate we like, but rather the one who realistically stands the best chance of winning -- the "lesser of two evils." Or, all too often, we don't bother to vote at all.
No wonder that, among the 21 democracies in
Western Europe and North America, the United States ranks near the bottom
in voter turn-out.
What Are The Advantages Of Full Representation?
Greater voter turn-out (typically 70-90%) because there are more choices for voters -- third, fourth, fifth parties and more from diverse perspectives including more women and minorities elected:
This leads to:
Where In The World Is Full Representation Used?
Some form of PR is used by most of the world's established democracies, including:
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"Winner-take-all" is still used in France, Great Britain, and a few of France and Britain's former colonies that inherited it: the United States, Canada, Pakistan, India and various Caribbean nations. It also is used in the least democratized former Soviet Republics.
The trend in the world is toward proportional representation and away from "winner take all." Recently the United Kingdom, the grandmother of all "winner take all" democracies, chose to use PR to elect representatives to the European Parliament. In their first elections, Scotland and Wales chose proportional systems, and there will be a national referendum on voting system reform in Great Britain by 1999.
In April 1994 South Africa decided to use PR rather than "winner take all" to form a multi-racial democracy. In 1993 New Zealand, Japan, Russia and Mexico adopted a form of PR. Significantly, most of the former Communist countries, including Russia, have chosen to model their emerging democracies more on proportional representation than the "winner-take-all" model. The Ukraine, which initially chose "winner take all," has now switched to a form of PR.
All these countries have adopted some form of PR because they recognize the obvious: PR is a fairer, more flexible, more modern electoral system than the antiquated eighteenth century "winner-take-all" method.
No, it isn't. A parliamentary system is a type of governmental system, while PR is a type of voting/electoral system. One is about the structure of government, the other about how votes are counted. Many, but not all, of the countries using PR combine it with a parliamentary governmental system. But this does not have to be the case, and a PR electoral system could successfully be combined with the U.S. presidential system.
Various forms of proportional and semi-proportional systems are used today to elect the city councils of Cambridge MA (choice voting), Peoria IL (cumulative voting), various cities and counties in Alabama, South Dakota and Texas (cumulative or limited voting), the community school boards in New York City (choice voting), the Democratic presidential primaries, various corporate boards (cumulative voting), and the finalists for the Academy Awards (choice voting).
The choice voting form of PR was first tried in the U.S. earlier this century. PR was tried in the U.S. in the 1920's and worked very well in 24 cities like New York City, Boulder, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Cambridge, MA. Both the majority and various political and racial minorities gained representation where their voices had previously been unheard. The minorities at the time who won representation were Irish Catholics, Polish immigrants, African Americans and leftists. Although only two of the first 26 attempts to repeal choice voting were successful in cities around the country, formerly dominant political forces outlasted reformers and were successful in repealing PR nearly everywhere. Their general tactic was targeting unpopular minorities like blacks and leftists.
There are many different types of PR, because it is a flexible system that may be adapted to the situation of any city, state or nation. Here are a few of the most common:
No, we can't. Single seat offices like the president, governor, mayor or district representatives can't be elected with proportional representation. However, there are much better ways for electing them than what we use today, ways that guarantee that the winner will be supported by a majority of voters:
All of these methods give voters a greater voice in how their vote is used, and alleviate the "lesser-of-two-evils" problem for voters. Our current winner-take-all system promotes candidates who blame all of our problems on those who would never vote for them, and punishes candidates who come up with pragmatic, middle-ground solutions.
Yes, it could. PR allows small parties to be a credible alternative to voters, giving them a national audience for their views to advance new ideas. PR has no ideological bias, but simply facilitates a fuller and more informed discussion of policy options; this more grounded discussion in turn provides greater opportunities to move to majority consensus on difficult issues.
An example of this is the German Greens.Without ever winning a single district election or receiving more than 10% of the national vote, the German Greens were able to see several of their environmental positions become part of a national consensus. Proportional representation of course has no idealogical bias. It simply allows majorities to make policy while also bringing minority perspectives to the table for consideration.
A representative from your own district is nice, but with "winner-take-all" there's a good chance you didn't vote for that representative. In the 1996 Congressional elections, only 28% of eligible voters helped elect someone. Under PR, you will have, not one, but several representatives from a larger district. And there is a much greater likelihood that at least one of those reps will be someone you voted for. In South Africa's 1994 PR elections, 86% of eligible voters helped elect someone, including more than 99% of voters who went to the polls to choose among nearly 20 political parties..
Also, the mixed-member form of PR used by Germany can give voters the benefits of both: a representative from your district, as well as a legislature that proportionally reflects the electorate.
PR doesn't base representation so much on geography but on political viewpoint. When our republic was young and dotted with small communities barely connected by slow communication and primitive transportation, the interests of citizens were similar to those of their neighbors. But our society is more mobile now, more multicultural and diverse. People living right next door to one another can have completely opposite viewpoints, yet with our single seat "winner-take-all" districts, only one of these voters will receive representation -- the one that voted for the winner. Simple geographical representation can no longer ensure fair political representation for all voters and all political perspectives.
Two parties limit the voters' choices. U.S. citizens would never accept an economic system that allowed us to buy cars from only two companies, or to choose from only two airlines. Why then, should we have to settle for just two options in politics? It's no wonder such a large portion of the U.S. electorate decides not to participate. They're not buying what the two parties are selling!
The logjam and partisan bickering of U.S. politics is partly the result of the winner-take-all two-party system, where each party says "Everything my party does is right and everything your party does is wrong." The optimum campaign strategy is to sling mud at your opponent, driving their voters to your party. New ideas and solutions have a hard time percolating to the surface in such a bitter environment. But this dynamic is not so advantageous when there are three or more parties.
Winner-take-all elections are also more susceptible to the corruption of big money. A majority of votes is a lot of votes to win, and a candidate has to plaster her or his name and face over every billboard, bumper sticker and TV ad to win that many votes. Since so much is at stake -- you either win the seat or you lose -- there is an urgency to spend lavishly.
But with PR you don't have to come in first to win seats. Whatever proportion of votes your party wins, you get that many seats in the legislature. PR actually reduces the percentage of votes it takes for a party or candidate to win a seat. Candidates tend to run cleaner, more positive, issue-oriented campaigns, targeted at a particular constituency. Such campaigns require less money to win seats. Minor parties win representation in PR democracies even though they spend less money than the major parties.
Absolutely. With proportional representation, you actually need less votes to gain a seat than in the winner-take-all system, and you can gather these votes from a larger area. This makes it easier for racial or political minority perspectives to win seats, without having to be concerned about how district lines are drawn.
In June 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. Johnson that race-conscious districts are unconstitutional. Voting rights experts like Lani Guinier, Ed Still, Gerald Hebert, Pamela Karlan and Richard Engstrom have proposed various forms of PR as race-neutral methods to give racial as well as political minorities and women a fair chance to elect representatives in competitive elections.
Yes, very much so. Research has shown that systems of proportional representation result in greater numbers of elected women, and that greater numbers of women are elected in multi-seat rather than single-seat districts. Women currently make up only 12% of the U.S. House of Representatives and 9% of the U.S. Senate. In state and local legislatures, women average only one out of five legislators. According to United Nation reports, the United States ranks low among western democracies in terms of women's representation in national legislatures. In fact, scholars have demonstrated that the underrepresentation of blacks and Latinos is largely an underrepresentation of black and Latino women. African American women have only about one fourth the representation of black men.
In many states it is possible to convert to PR simply by changing applicable laws. Amendments to the U.S. Constitution are not required. The laws can be changed by a simple vote of the legislatures, or in many cases via a voter initiative. PR can be adapted to local, state and national levels, bringing the democratic promise of "one person, one vote" closer to fulfillment.
If the political will could be mobilized, it is possible to convert immediately to a system of proportional representation for electing representatives to city councils, state legislatures, and even the U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. Senators could be elected by Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), giving voters more choice. As a bonus, PR would spare states the torment of legislative redistricting, an arduous, bitter and partisan gerrymandering affair.
Here's a partial reading list:
A full bibliography is available from The Center for Voting and Democracy for $1. .
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The Center for Voting and Democracy is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating U.S. citizens about the impact of voting systems and the benefits of PR. Contact the national office or our west coast office for more information about PR and about how to get involved in the national and local efforts to bring PR to the United States.