Proportional representation (PR)
Proportional representation (PR) is an electoral system designed to ensure that political parties gain seats in proportion to the number of votes they receive. This approach aims to provide fair representation for all voters, regardless of their political affiliations. PR is widely adopted in many European democracies and has been implemented in some newly democratized countries in Africa, contrasting starkly with the winner-takes-all system prevalent in the United States.
Historically, the first recorded use of PR dates back to the early 19th century, with the single transferable vote (STV) system being one of the most prominent methods employed. In PR systems, voters may rank candidates or parties, which allows for more nuanced electoral outcomes and encourages multiple parties to participate. Notably, while PR has never been fully adopted at the national level in the U.S., certain cities have experimented with various forms of this system over the years.
Advocates argue that PR could help alleviate the issues of partisanship and gridlock seen in the two-party system, especially as a significant portion of American voters identify as independents. With growing interest in electoral reform, there is a renewed discussion about how PR could reshape the political landscape in the United States, similar to its established role in other democracies.
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Proportional representation (PR)
Proportional representation is a system of electoral voting in which members of certain parties gain seats in direct proportion to the amount of votes cast for them. Common in most European democracies and many newly democratized countries in Africa, the basic principle behind the system is that all voters, regardless of their political views, deserve representation in their governments.
Unlike the electoral college system in the United States, where the person who receives the most votes becomes the representative of a particular political subdivision, such as a congressional district, in countries with proportional representation multiple members from each district are elected, on a ratio based on the number of votes cast. For instance, if a candidate of a particular party wins 40 percent of the vote in a ten-member district, that party receives four of the seats. If another party wins 30 percent of the vote in the same ten-member district, that party receives three of the remaining seats.
Brief History
While discussions of the proportional representation system date back to the late 1700s, the first proportional representation election did not occur until 1840 in Adelaide, Australia. Its first documented use in Great Britain was in 1819 in Birmingham, to elect the Committee of the Birmingham Society for Literary and Scientific Improvement. Schoolmaster and mathematician Thomas Wright Hill is credited with coming up with the idea, which later became known as the single transferrable vote system of proportional representation. The Republic of Ireland still uses it to elect its members of parliament.
In the United States, the proportional representation system has never been adopted at the national or state levels, but several American cities have experimented with it in the past. The first one to do so was the city of Ashtabula, Ohio, in 1915. At various points, several other cities have used variations of the system, including New York City; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Sacramento, California. However, by 1950, all but Cambridge, Massachusetts, which still uses it today, had abandoned the system. Many proponents of proportional representation blame party machines for its abandonment, but in recent years, there have been grassroots movements to revive it in cities such as Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Overview
The single transferrable vote (STV) system invented by Hill is perhaps the most used system. Voters rank candidates in order of their preference by ranking their choices in numerical order. They put a 1 by their first choice, 2 by their second choice, 3 by their third choice, and so on. The reason for doing so is to instruct the ballot counter to allocate extra votes to candidates who need them. The STV system calculates a quota by using the following formula: Divide the total number of votes cast by the number of seats to be filled, plus one, and then add one vote.
For example, if three seats are to be filled in a district with 10,000 voters, a candidate must receive 2,501 votes to win the election. Should a given candidate in a district receive 3,000 votes, 499 of those votes would be reallocated to other candidates in order to fill seats. The remaining votes would go to the voters' stated second choices. On subsequent counts, the candidates with the lowest vote totals are eliminated, and their votes are reallocated to second choices. The process continues until three candidates receive enough votes to put them over the quota.
The mixed member proportional representation system, otherwise known as the German system, is a process in which individuals cast two votes—one for local district representatives and another for their party of choice. Many proponents view this hybrid system as the best of both worlds, incorporating elements of the US winner-takes-all system with more standard proportional representation systems. By voting for a candidate of choice and a party of choice, the system ensures that the party with the most support also has a majority of seats in the legislature. With this system, a certain number of seats are set aside for district representatives, and the rest are held as "accountability seats" that are reserved for individual parties. The accountability seats are pulled from prearranged party lists, and are allocated in proportion with the number of votes cast for a particular party. It is designed to guard against unbalanced partisanship that can occur if too many district members from one party are elected.
In party list voting, political parties produce lists of candidates for their voters in multimember districts, usually equal to the amount of seats available. Seats are allocated proportionally to the percentage of votes cast for each party. For instance, if one political party receives 40 percent of the vote in a ten-member district, that party wins four seats. In open list voting, voters choose the candidates they like from a list the party presents, and the most popular candidates from the party win the seats. In closed list voting, voters choose a party as a whole, and the winning candidates are determined by ballot position.
While the concept of proportional representation has not taken off in the United States, it remains the most commonly used electoral system in European democracies. Unlike in the United States, most European democracies have more than two dominant political parties, making proportional representation a natural fit in terms of parliamentary structure. Advocates for US election reform, however, often look to the proportional representation used in the rest of the world as a chance to break through the gridlock of the two-party system. A 2015 Gallup poll indicated that 43 percent of American voters identify as independent. If the vast majority of remaining American voters identify with one of the two major political parties, then reform advocates can easily make the case that most Americans are looking for additional options.
Throughout the last year, the rise of populist candidates in both the United States and abroad has upended traditional politics. The Brexit vote in the United Kingdom—a movement spearheaded by political figures outside of the mainstream—sent shock waves through Europe. In the United States, independent candidate Bernie Sanders narrowly lost the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton in 2016. She ultimately lost the presidency to outsider candidate Donald Trump, who ran as a Republican but often expressed views that were at odds with the rest of his party.
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