8. An Electoral System for the House of Representatives

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8.1 What We Are Looking For

Any electoral system proposed as a replacement for the unconstitutional district system must satisfy three specific requirements.

 

• It must conform to Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, meaning Representatives must be chosen by the People of the several States on a state-wide basis.

• It must conform to the One Person One Vote principle, meaning every voter casts exactly one vote of equal weight regardless of which state they inhabit or how many members that state sends to the House of Representatives.

• It must provide complete and equal representation to all citizens of a state, meaning no voter's voice is silenced, diluted, or rendered meaningless by geographic boundaries or partisan manipulation.

 

The constitutional authority for Congress to mandate this system nationally is explicit - Article I, Section 4 grants Congress the power to make or alter state election regulations at any time by law.

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8.2 The Proposed System - State-Wide Party-List Proportional Election System

The system that satisfies all three requirements is the State-Wide Party-List Proportional Election System.

 

Under this system every voter in a state casts exactly one vote.

That vote may be cast in one of two ways.

• A voter may choose to vote directly for an individual candidate of their choice.

• Alternatively, a voter may choose to vote for a party, trusting that party's listed candidates to represent them.

In either case exactly one vote is cast.

The choice of how to exercise that vote belongs entirely to the voter.

 

Seats are allocated proportionally based on the total votes received across the whole state. A party or candidate receiving twenty percent of the votes receives approximately twenty percent of that state's seats in the House of Representatives. The composition of the state's delegation reflects the genuine will of the whole people of that state.

 

Where a voter chooses to vote for an individual candidate who is a member of a party, that vote counts both for the individual candidate and toward the party's proportional total. If that individual candidate receives sufficient votes to warrant election, the party is required to honor that result and seat that candidate regardless of where they were ranked on the party's list. The voter's expressed preference for an individual candidate is sovereign and cannot be overridden by party preference.

 

In states allocated only one seat, the candidate receiving the most votes wins that seat. This is the proportional election system in its simplest form - one seat, one winner, chosen by the People of the State.

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8.3 Why This System Fulfills All Requirements

The State-Wide Party-List Proportional Election System fulfills each of the three requirements as follows.

• It conforms to Article I, Section 2 because every voter participates in choosing their state's entire delegation to the House of Representatives on a state-wide basis. No voter is confined to a geographic fragment of their state. The People of the several States choose their Representatives - collectively and equally - exactly as the Constitution requires.

• It conforms to the One Person One Vote principle because every voter casts exactly one vote regardless of how many members their state sends to the House of Representatives. A voter in a one-seat state and a voter in a ten-seat state each cast one vote of identical weight. No voter has greater voice than another.

• It provides complete and equal representation to all citizens because every vote contributes proportionally to the composition of the state's delegation. No vote is wasted. No minority is silenced. No majority can sweep every seat by winning a bare plurality statewide. The delegation reflects the actual distribution of opinion among the whole people of the state.

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