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 Post subject: Voting systems
PostPosted: Thu Oct 02, 2003 7:06 pm 
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Anyone who paid any attention in 2000 should be somewhat aware of the importance of what type of voting system is used. As we all saw, the popular vote or rather, the candidate who received the most votes, did not in fact go on to become the president. Don't get me wrong; this is not a pro Gore whine fest. This is a debate centered on the following question: Is the SMDP (single member district plurality) voting system the best way to go for the United States?

On one hand, many would say that in a two party system, the PR (proportional voting) system would not work. The relative stability that is provided with the SMDP system, while not affording accurate representation, is considered by many political scientists to be essential to the smooth operations of federal and state government. On the other hand, there are those that claim the inequality in representation of the SMDP system means that many Americans are not having their interests represented in government. This can be attributed to a popular view here in the states that "my vote doesn't count anyway". The number of voters that show up at the polls during elections can verify this sentiment, or rather the mindset that it describes: 50% of Americans for presidential elections, and less 1/3 of Americans for Congressional elections. We have in fact, the lowest numbers of voters participating out of all the other major industrialized democracies in the WORLD. Add onto that the constant shenanigans with redistricting, and you have painted a picture of one of the major tumors of American politics.

The basics of SMDP work as follows: Candidates A, B, and C are running for congressional office in a district in one of the states. Candidate A receives 45% of the vote, while B receives 25%, and C receives 30%. This means that A wins the district, and the 55% of voters (the majority mind you) that voted for either B or C conceivably are not represented fairly in Congress.

Seems like a problem, right? So what happens if we were to replace SMDP with PR? Well, the number of congressmen per state would increase, that’s for sure! But given that every sector of the public cannot in fact be represented by they're own specific Congressman, (unless we set away an entire state that no one uses, like Montana, specifically for the convening of congress) but rather that TWO representatives would be chosen, the top two. This would effectively double the size of Congress, but it would also afford more accurate representation.

The downside, is that reaching a plurality in Congress would not be as guaranteed thing as it is now, and in fact the likelihood of stalemates would greatly increase.

So what do you think?

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