Proportional Representation

[DGS49]

The State of Illinois is the fifth most populous State in the Union. It's population of 12,860,000 is almost exactly four percent of the total U.S. population.

By happy coincidence, Illinois controls exactly four percent (2 members) of the U.S. Senate. The four states above Illinois - California, Texas, Florida, and New York - are under-represented in the Senate, while the other FORTY-FOUR states are over-represented with their two senators each. There are twenty-one States with less than one percent of the U.S. population.

The situation in the House is more equitable, with some minor discrepancies, but basically, each House seat represents about 740 thousand people. Minor differences in relative representation of the States are attributable to rounding differences.

President Trump got about 63 million votes to win the Presidency in 2016, which was less than 20% of the U.S. population. It wouldn't take much manipulation to see a Republican win with even fewer popular votes. So with all of the attention given to a Presidential election, 20% of us, if properly allocated, can determine who the next President will be.

"Get out the Vote" campaigns are a democratic abomination. There is about 40% of the population that is interested enough to vote. Every vote over and above that low number is likely a vote of someone who is ill-informed, gullible, and un-intelligent. These are the ones being pursued by these massive campaigns, and in particular the votes that Bloomberg is trying to capture in Florida.

Ain't Democracy great?

 

[$ecular#eckler]

The Senate is supposed to represent the states not people. The 17th Amendment messes up people's understanding. The House is messed up because it is limited to 435 members apportioned to the state populations. 740 thousand people - most municipalities do not have that many people. Of the 3000 municipalities, no more than a thousand have more than 100 thousand people.

I won't be voting this year, because I lost my out of state identification, and have not established residency.

 

[cnm]

In Aotearoa we have a form of proportional representation, MMP, Mixed Member Proportional, where each voter has two votes, one for the electorate representative and one for the party of choice. A party's total seats in Parliament - the electorate seats it has won plus the party list candidates to which it is entitled - is determined by its share of the party vote. Give or take, there are a few anomalies at the edges.
Since MMP was introduced in the 90s every government has been a coalition and every government has had the majority of votes. Too, every Parliament has been more representative of the population.

I'd never go back to first past the post, winner take all. Nor would the country, which in at least one referendum endorsed MMP after it had been implemented for a few cycles.