On Wed, 15 Dec 2004, Jeanne Massey wrote: > Jeanne Massey responds: > I'm not convinced that geographic representation in a proportional > representation (PR) election model doesn't have much weight behind it, > because the city is so geographically divided by race, ethnicity and income > (and voting turnout is lower in poorer areas of the city). I understand > that most PR systems are party based and that PR has a track record of > assuring better representation by minority communities without necessarily > being geographically based, but a single district model doesn't GUARANTEE it > would happen and, as such, certain geographic areas could be marginalized in > the process. > > In order to ensure balanced geographical representation in a PR system, such > as the STV (single transferable vote) approach David Shove outlines (which > is like IRV/PR combined as you rank your choices within the multi-candidate > district), you could create smaller geographic based districts (e.g., 3 or > 4) WITHIN Minneapolis, as opposed to one SINGLE district for the entire > city. Each smaller district would have a smaller number of elected members > (e.g. 3 or 4), as opposed to up 10 - 13 members in one single district as > Shove prescribes above.
Say you have 3 wards, each with 4 seats. Then it takes 1/4 20% of the vote to elect. That means smaller parties will be frozen out. Take your choice - tailor districts so some poor areas are guaranteed geo rep OR allow smaller parties to win. Either way someone with less power loses. I prefer to try smaller parties. And, the few the reps per district, the more the DFL will take more seats than their percentage. I do not want to go to the trouble of getting PR only to help the DFL have more seats than it is entitled to - as it has had for decades. --David Shove Roseville REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
