Essay on America Needs Voting Reform

One can come to a conclusion that plurality systems have a major flaw and that is inequality. Adopting a MMP would be a huge step forward in Canadian democracy. With a MMP system in place, more women would be elected to the legislature because it creates fairness. With more women in the legislature, it can make a substantial difference in the types of laws that may be proposed and passed. Another advantage MMP brings to Canada is instead of electing one member of the legislature in each small district, Canada would use larger districts to elect several members. To add to this advantage, the candidates that win the seats in these multi-member districts are determined by the proportion of votes each party receives. With Canada’s current electoral system, one citizen’s vote counts for less than another citizen’s vote. By changing to a MMP system, Canada can give more equality and fairness back to the citizens.

A Congressional Proportional method is another alternative being proposed in opposition to the Electoral College. A Congressional proportional method would allocate votes based on the winner of each congressional district. It would also award the winner of the overall popular vote in each state two electoral votes(senators). Once again on the surface this system looks fair and reasonable, but if you investigate deeply it can be seen that there is one glaring flaw in this system. The act of Gerrymandering which is used throughout the United States in every state is when the authority in each state decided which way the districts will be drawn. In simpler terms an authority could draw district that would exclude certain type of voters to increase

There are many different kinds of voting systems used throughout the world. The U.S. has used the electoral college system ever since the Constitution was written and ratified. The question is, is it time to change our government and the way it is set up because the world has changed so much? Although the Constitution was written in a totally different time period and the world has evolved significantly in this time, the Constitution has made it to this day. Our government is not perfect but it has been functioning well ever since we adopted the Constitution. Our nation has been a national superpower and overall, been seen as a strong nation which means that our government system has served us well so far. Nevertheless, there are

This new system would be beneficial to Canada in many ways. The first change it would bring would be increasing the number of voter turnouts. When people realize that their vote will actually be more represented in government, they are more likely to vote and support smaller parties. Proportional representation allows for a fairer split of seats and gives more parties a chance to represent their citizens. Those people that are apathetic to casting votes on Election Day because of the inaccurate representation will see this problem alleviated. The vast majority of Canadians' votes are not accurately depicted with the government they’re trying to represent. Proportional representation voting systems work differently; by giving a party that gets 33% of the votes exactly 33% of the seats. The result is a Parliament that more accurate represents the preferences of the constituents. There have been many debates in Canada to use the proportional representation in upcoming elections. In 2004, British Colombia launched the first ever Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform, which brought together representatives to consult across the province on the electoral system. They recommended a change and a referendum was held in 2005. While the proposal won more than a majority (57 percent), it fell short of the 60 percent ‘super-majority’ threshold the

In a plurality system two political parties go against to gain majority vote. Two major political parties are less likely to represent all opinions and views of it’s members. In a proportional system where the percentage of votes contribute and goes toward the amount of voted received people can form parties that accurately represent what society

Single member districts support a two party system. Proportional system allows for a multi party structure. It requires a certain amount of power to become elected into office. In a plurality system two go against each other to gain the majority vote. An example of this is the United States. There are two primary parties who compete for the citizens vote to become a member in office. In a proportional representation system it is displayed as many people can run for office. In the end the percentage of the vote goes to the portion of the votes. Two party districts are essential when it comes to be represented. It allows people who wouldn't normally run for office due to biased to run for office, with the confidence that the system itself is

The topic of the United States of America and the broken voting systems within is quite an extensive one, as well as one that deserves to be covered in much more depth and detail than a simple essay/speech can give. Although, on that note, I shall attempt to consolidate and deliver some of the many details on why this system is so broken, as well as why it should be fixed, and some proposed ways of doing so. First, I shall cover the topic of why the system doesn’t work and the many flaws that riddle the topic. Soon following, I shall describe to you some of the many proposed methods to fixing the issues.

This system, typically called mixed-member proportional representation, consists of electing representatives for individual constituencies in the same method as the presidency. The remainder of the seats are filled in such a manner to make the total representation proportional to the total number of votes for each voter’s chosen party. This system would allow third parties like the Libertarian, Green, and Constitution parties to gain seats in Congress and introduce novel ideas into the political sphere. Our current system, instead of excluding extremists and radicals, just normalizes them within the two main political parties and pushes discussion towards becoming an ineffective mudslinging

First Past the Post and Proportional Representation. Instead of throwing out First Past the Post and replacing it with Proportional Representation we should try to combine them. Mixed Member proportional takes the best aspects from each of this systems and combines them to make the “perfect” system. Ontario is already experimenting with Mixed Member proportional. Mixed Member Proportional is more transparent. They provide a list before the election of all candidates and how they picked them. Using this list people can see if there is a strong man to woman ratio and if all races, religions etc are represented. Along with people voting for their local candidate people also vote for their of choice. The party vote determines the share of seats for that party. Also, there are more safeguards such as if the party doesn’t have enough members to fill their share of seats they can “top them up.” Topping them up is when the party takes the top members and uses them to fill the open seats. This system will make parties represent every race, religion and

Second, is a system called proportional representation. This is the biggest opposition to the winner-takes-all system. The way it works is instead of using single-member districts they use multimember districts. The amount of seats a party gets is based on a proportion of how much support they get. For example if a party only gets say ten percent of the votes they only get two seats. This would have a lot of effects if it was used in the U.S. general elections. Such as fairer gender and race representation, and it would make people want to come out

system and since it does not, this is the most serious challenge for my generation. The American electoral and

Proportional Representation (PR) is one of the most widely-used systems worldwide, supported by many groups as a replacement for the existing First-Past-the-Post electoral system on the basis of its ability to accurately represent the wishes of the entire electorate. The table and graph illustrates the results of an election conducted under Proportional Representation1

One of the main functions of elections is to ensure representation. Yet, it is arguable that most electoral systems do not return proportional results and therefore do not ensure proper representation. There are numerous electoral systems that are used all over the world and every country seems to have adopted a particular system that works well for them, but may not for others.

If the delegates were elected by Proportional representation with high threshold the possibility of the fact that some minority group would not be represented will be at stake. As a best way to overcome this kind of risk Elster offers – the election of delegates by Proportional representation with low threshold or threshold at all. So this will promote a direct representation of minority groups in Constituent assembly.

Finally, Under the Party List system, there are two different types; Open List and Closed List. With the open list, voters choose an individual candidate from the list of parties and the candidate with the popular vote wins. Whereas, with the closed list , voters only vote for political parties and have no influence over which candidate is elected. Those in favour of this system argue that it is potentially the “purest” form of proportional representation in that every vote has equal value, making it fair for all parties. Those that oppose this view would argue that the existence of