[EM] Dumb question

[John B. Hodges]

As a method of proportional representation, for electing members of a 
legislature, what would be the drawbacks of using Open Party List, 
with Approval voting (Or, for that matter, ranked-pairs Condorcet) to 
rank the candidates on each party's list? Candidate with greatest 
number of approvals goes to the head of the list, candidate with 
second-greatest number goes second, and so forth.

One obvious tactic the nefarious party bosses could use would be to 
field only the number of candidates they expected the party could win 
seats for; this would nullify the effect of the open list. This 
tactic could be countered by legally requiring each party to put on 
the ballot everyone who had gathered X number of signatures from 
party members supporting their candidacy. Essentially this would 
require each party to hold a party primary, aspirants qualifying to 
be candidates by gathering signatures from some percent of party 
members. In the general election, anyone who votes for that party can 
either accept the ordered list that the party bosses provide, or fill 
out their approvals or rankings of the specific candidates on the 
list. The number of seats granted to the party would be proportional 
to the percent of voters who voted for that party, and who gets the 
seats would be determined by the approvals or rankings each candidate 
got.

So, repeating the question: as a method of PR for legislative 
elections, what's wrong woth this picture?
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John B. Hodges, jbhodges@  @usit.net
Do Justice, Love Mercy, and Be Irreverent.
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