Many voters say Congress is broken. Could proportional representation fix it?

[sl8]

https://www.npr.org/2023/11/18/1194448925/congress-proportional-representation-explainer

Many voters say Congress is broken. Could proportional representation fix it?

NOVEMBER 18, 2023 5:00 AM ET
Hansi Lo Wang

[...]

Instead of the single candidate with the most votes winning a House district's seat, a proportional representation system would elect multiple representatives in each district, distributing seats in the legislature roughly in proportion to the votes each party receives.

Supporters say proportional representation could help temper the rise of political extremism, eliminate the threat of gerrymandering and ensure the fair representation of people of color, as well as voters who are outnumbered in reliably "red" or "blue" parts of the country.

And last year, a group of more than 200 political scientists, legal scholars and historians across the U.S. said the time for Congress to change is now. (https://medium.com/@scholars-redistricting-reform/open-letter-to-congress-to-end-single-member-congressional-districts-and-adopt-proportional-97ad1cf6aa2e )

"Our arcane, single-member districting process divides, polarizes, and isolates us from each other," they wrote in an open letter to lawmakers. "It has effectively extinguished competitive elections for most Americans, and produced a deeply divided political system that is incapable of responding to changing demands and emerging challenges with necessary legitimacy."

[...]

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Probably, but won't take long to screw up any ..

benefits and make the new system worse than the old one.

[jimfields33]

2. I always thought doing zip codes would work. Some districts might have two or three to get the the

magic number needed. It sure would be better then the ridiculous boundaries they do now.

[RicROC]

3. by zip code? hmmm, I hadn't though of that.

I was thinking of voting districts based on school districts, but zip code representatives make sense.

[LiberalFighter]

11. Zipcodes can overlap multiple counties.

They are also not population determined.

[jimfields33]

13. I'm not sure overlapped counties matter.

But as far as zip codes go. One might have one zip code where another area might have 10 or more. I think if they wanted to, it could work.

[LiberalFighter]

14. Take a look at several zipcode maps and let me know.

In Fort Wayne Indiana there is a zip code inside another one. There are some that have multiple bumps into other zipcodes.

[The Wizard]

4. Minority rule is a failed concept.

Proportional representation is a remedy for gerrymandering,

[wayanr]

10. Proportional representation provides minority representation

I'm not sure what you mean by "minority rule".
Proportional representation is sometimes summarized as majority control with minority representation. If you're not at the table, you're on the menu. With a 5-member district, over 5/6s of the voters voted for at least one representative at the table.
https://fairvote.org/ and http://rcvresources.org/ offer information on ranked choice voting and proportional representation.

[PHL-RINO]

5. Infiltrate GOP Primaries

The only way to get our country back to a reasonable state of politics is for Democrats and Independents to register as Republicans and vote in the primaries. Step # 1 is to defeat the MAGA minority and rescue the Republican Party from the Cult of Trump. After that, we can get back to solving the issues affecting America which require pragmatic bipartisan solutions. #RINORevolution

[AZSkiffyGeek]

6. Why is it Democrats' responsibility to save the Republican Party?

Are you sure you are in the right place?

[TwilightZone]

7. Nearly half of Republicans are MAGA

Trying to counter half the party by voting in their primaries would be pointless.

The GOP created the monster. Now, they're stuck with it.

[LiberalFighter]

12. It is 40% or less.

[gopiscrap]

8. Welcome to DU

[gopiscrap]

9. I would love to go to their caucuses

with a bunch of other liberals cause all sorts of havoc