More on Gerrymander prevention

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

Jurij wrote -

Most of the countries draw districts according to the total "population".

Some draw them according to the "total number of voters" (for example

England) but none does it according to the "votes cast". The reason is

called "equal voting right principle". If the districts would be drawn

according to the votes cast that would mean that people that do not vote

would be underrepresented. However, they should not be underrepresented

since they have a right to be represented equally, too. But it is their

decision if they want to vote or not. Even if they do not vote, they should

be equally represented. Therefore districts have to be drawn according to

the total population. There is a difference between those that use the

population principle and those that use number of voters. The idea of the

first countries is that all the people have a voting right, but the minors

etc. do not execute it yet. Or, some ideas say - all the people have the

right to be equally represented, not just the voters. The second sort of

countries say that minors do not have a voting right and do not have a right

to be equally represented. Therefore, by your system, in any case the

principle of "equal voting right" or principle of "equal representation"

would be violated.
----
D- Again (for about the 15th time- a legislative body exists ONLY because ALL 
the Electors (and NOT the non-Electors in the population) cannot assemble in 
person and make the laws.

Some *Non-Elector* groups  --- aliens, children, disqualifed adult persons   
-- felons in jail or ex-felons (in many U.S.A. States) (who are obviously in 
concentrated areas), mentally ill persons, military persons in temporary 
bases in a State (who are obviously in concentrated areas), etc.

That is, like it or not, the Electors are supposed to represent the 
Non-Electors.

A remedy to represent all actual Electors is proxy p.r. --- each winner has a 
voting power equal to the final number of votes that he/she receives.

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Proportional Representation System with Hare Quotas

There happens to be a very strong (but wrong) fixation with having 1 vote per 
seat in legislative bodies.

A candidate will directly (or indirectly) get more than, equal to or less 
than the Total Votes/ Total Seats ratio (aka Hare Quota).

In the below the excess votes from winners (or votes from losers) go to 1 or 
more unelected remaining candidates with less than the Hare Quota until all 
candidates are elected or lose.

Candidates of a party will presumably rank each other highest and then 
candidates of other coalition parties, if any.

Proxy p.r. (NOT shown in the below) permits districts with an unequal number 
of voters per district (to have obvious district boundaries --- political 
subdivision lines,  major roads, rivers, mountain ranges, etc.) and avoids 
above ratio vote transfers.  Each winner has a voting power equal to the 
number of votes that he/she receives (directly from the voters or from 
transfers from voters or losing candidates).
----
Proportional Representation System with Hare Quotas
22 Mar 2002
Demorep1 at aol.com

[optional/ fill the blank]

Sec. 1. The [Name of Legislative Body] shall consist of [5] x [N] members 
[elected from [N] districts].

Sec. 2. As nearly as possible, each district shall consist of 1 or more 
political subdivisions and/or parts of not more than 2 political 
subdivisions, contain an equal number of Electors at the last election, and 
be square.

Sec. 3. All candidates shall file a nominating petition at least [70] days 
before the Election Day signed by at least [0.5] percent [but not more than 
[1] percent] of the Total number of registered Electors in all districts as 
of [140] days before the Election Day divided by the Total Members to be 
elected.

Sec. 4. Each candidate shall file a rank order list of all the other 
candidates in all districts at least [7] days before the Election Day.

Sec. 5. Each Elector may vote for 1 candidate in his/her district.

Sec. 6. Each candidate getting direct (plus transferred) votes equal to the 
ratio of Total Votes/ Total Members shall be elected

Sec. 7. The votes in excess of such ratio shall be transferred to the highest 
unelected remaining candidate(s) on the elected candidate's rank order list 
(but not more votes than are needed to get such ratio) (starting with the 
candidate with the largest excess).

Sec. 8. The candidate with the lowest number of direct plus transferred votes 
shall lose.

Sec. 9. Such votes shall be transferred to the highest unelected remaining 
candidate(s) on the losing candidate's rank order list (and on the original 
rank order list involved for prior transferred votes, if any) (but not more 
votes than are needed to get such ratio).

Sec. 10. Sections 6, 8 and 9 shall be repeated until all members are elected.

Sec. 11. (a) A candidate or member may file a written rank order list of 
persons to fill his/her vacancy, if any. 
(b) The qualified person highest on the list shall fill the vacancy. 
(c) The legislative body shall fill the vacancy if the preceding does not h
appen.

---

A more inaccurate but quicker variant ----

Secs. 1-3 Same as above.

Sec. 4. The candidates of a party shall get Seats (S) equal to Total Seats x 
Party Votes/ Total Votes using [the Method of Equal Proportions] OR [the 
highest fractions] (with independent candidates being deemed to be in a 
party).

[Note- the MEP produces a rank order list of (Party Votes x Party Votes)/ 
(Seats x (Seats + 1)) (for Seats = 1, 2, etc.) to apportion seats.  The MEP 
is used to apportion the 435 seats in the U.S.A. House of Representatives 
among the States using Census Populations of the States.]

Sec. 5. The S highest vote receiving candidates in all districts of each 
respective party shall be elected .

Sec. 6. Same as Sec. 11 above.

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From: DEMOREP1 at aol.com
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Subject: Re: More on Gerrymander prevention
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By the way though, even if pure geometry was all we cared about, we would 
still have to incorporate population equality of districts as a 
side-constraint.  But it would be easier to avoid use of side constraints, 
and instead to incorporate population equality, in terms of a measure of 
inter-district inequality in population, directly into the merit measure.  
Namely, let total merit - or rather demerit - be a weighted sum of two 
summands:  average perimeter, and variance among district population sizes.
---
D- Current ultra-dangerous situation - indirect minority rule gerrymanders in 
ALL 50 U.S.A. States for electing U.S. Representatives and/or each house of 
EVERY State legislature.

Proxy p.r. -- each winner has a voting power in the legislative body equal to 
the votes from the Electors that he/she finally gets (directly and from the 
votes transferred from losing candidates) --- producing indirect majorty rule 
(aka Democracy) and minority representation (even up to 49.9999 percent 
minorities).

NO need for ---

districts having equal populations

square or star shaped (polygon) districts.