END GERRYMANDERING: have larger multi-seat districts

[yurbud]

I didn't invent this idea, some other election reform people did. I couldn't find anything in the constitution to prevent it--it just says states get reps based on population. How those seats are divided is apparently up to states.

The way it would work is instead of having many carefully gerrymandered districts, you have fewer more diverse ones, people vote for the candidate they like, and if there are five seats, the top five vote-getters get the seats. Variations could be everyone in the district voting for as many candidates as there are seats (pick five out of however many are running) or you could vote for a party then rank their slate, so the turds would eventually get spit out.


The biggest advantage would be to third parties. Right now, in nearly all districts, they are at best spoilers, and therefore ignored or despised by voters. But if you had five seat, and the Green guy (or whoever) got the fifth most votes, he would get a seat.

It would also help Democrats and Republicans who live in districts that are overwhelmingly one party or another. If you know your parties candidate will win whether you vote or not or lose whether you vote or not, you tend to get apathetic. In a multi-seat district, that is removed and the numbers and percentages actually matter again.

Changes like this could lead to true multi-party democracy, which of course means that few elected officials will support it. But it would be worth doing as an initiative.