[EM] Vermont's Two Member Districts
Donald E Davison
donald at mich.com
Sat May 15 03:48:19 PDT 1999
Greetings,
In April I asked the question: "What is the smallest change that will
yield the most improvement in an election method - for the size of the
change?"
When I suggested that a two member district in place of the Single
Seat District would yield the most improvement for the size of this small
change, I did not know that two member districts were in use somewhere. I
have been informed by Terry Bouricius of Vermont that his state uses two
member districts in the election of its House.
Vermont not only uses two member districts, but it uses a mix of one
and two member districts in the same election, which I consider a stroke of
good luck, because now we can compare one and two member districts, in the
same state, in the same election using the same issues. I fail to see how
we could get a better arrangement to compare anything.
I divided the districts into two sets, 67 Single Seat districts vs 41
Two Member districts. I had said that two member districts would give
better proportional representation for any two major parties. This turns
out to be the case.
In the Single Seat district set, there is a difference of about twelve
percent between major party votes and major party members elected, while
the Two Member set only has a difference of about one percent.
S I N G L E S E A T D I S T R I C T S
Party Votes Percent Members elected Percent + or -
--------- --------- ------- --------------- ------- --------
Democrat 42,668 45.2 % 35 57.4 % + 12.2 %
Republican 48,731 52.7 % 25 41.0 % - 11.7 %
Progressive 561 0.6 % 1 1.6 % + 1.0 %
Libertarian 33 0.0 %
Independent 1,534 1.6 % 0 0 - 1.6 %
Write In 817 0.9 % 0 0 - 0.9 %
------- -----
94,344 61
T W O M E M B E R D I S T R I C T S (voters have two votes)
Party Votes Percent Members elected Percent + or -
--------- --------- ------- --------------- ------- --------
Democrat 83,460 51.8 % 36 51.4 % - 0.4 %
Republican 69,358 43.1 % 31 44.3 % + 1.2 %
Progressive 3,612 2.2 % 3 4.3 % + 2.1 %
Libertarian 2,241 1.4 % 0 0 - 1.4 %
Independents 1,404 0.9 % 0 0 - 0.9 %
Grass Roots 142 0.1 % 0 0 - 0.1 %
Write In 795 0.5 % 0 0 - 0.5 %
------- ---
161,012 70
Note: I did not include the data of candidates that were nominated by two
parties.
In this real election in the real world, the two member districts are
clearly better than single seat districts in regard to the proportional
representation of the two major parties.
E L E C T E D M E M B E R S B Y G E N D E R
Single seat districts Two Member districts
----------------------- ----------------------
Male 49 73.1 % Male 54 65.8 %
Female 18 26.9 % Female 28 34.1 %
The percent of females elected has also improved.
I would say that Two Member districts are better than Single Seat Districts.
But I will also say there are better changes than merely forming Two
Member districts.
If anyone would like the data of this 1998 Vermont election, ask and I
will send it to you in two eMail letters.
Or, you can collect the data yourself on the following web site:
http:www.sec.state.vt.us/
You will need to go through a series of links to get to the data.
First click onto "Elections" (not the elections link that is in the
left hand window. Use the election link that is a few inches down in the
main window. These two election links go to different locations on the
site. Do not ask me why.)
Next Link is: "Searchable Database of Candidates for 1998 General Election."
Next Link is: "Summary of Results"
Next Link is: "Election Home Page"
Next Link is: "Result of Nov 3 1998 General Election"
Next Link is: "State House Races, Unofficial Results by Polling Place"
At this location you will find a window with all the districts and
their polling places.
The districts are listed in capital letters and contain the results for
the entire district. There is no need to check each polling place, but you
will need to access each district, because each district has its own link.
Have fun.
Regards,
Donald
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
T H E C O D E O F H O N O R F O R R E F O R M A C T I V I S T S
Any group of reform activists that are thinking about a petition drive
to place a proposal on the ballot are to present their proposal beforehand
to all other reform activists that they know of. The time for debate and
negative comments is before the petition stage. Once the group makes its
final proposal and enters the petition stage, the debates and negative
comments by all reform activists is to cease.
At this time each activist is to make an honest evaluation. If the
initiative will improve government then each activist is to find it in his
heart to support the initiative, even if it is not exactly what the
activist would like.
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
| Q U O T A T I O N |
| "Democracy is a beautiful thing, |
| except that part about letting just any old yokel vote." |
| - Age 10 |
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
N E W S L E T T E R
Worldwide Direct Democracy Newsletter
Four Issues per Year by Postal Mail
Cost per year: Czech Republic 200 Kc, Europe 12 DM
Outside of Europe $10
Make check payable to: Account Number 13164-30-01
Mail to: (Polak Jiri,ded)
Ceska sporitelna, a.s.
Jugoslavska 19
Praha2, Czech Republic
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
N E W D E M O C R A C Y
A Source of Study Material for Political Change
http://www.mich.com/~donald
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
More information about the Election-Methods
mailing list