[EM] Vermont's Two Member Districts

David Catchpole s349436 at student.uq.edu.au
Sun May 16 19:17:26 PDT 1999


Am I right in assuming that the two-member districts are in areas with
reasonably high votes for the parties that prior to the election were 
non-majority parties?

On Sat, 15 May 1999, Donald E Davison wrote:

> 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
> 
> +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
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> 
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>     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                               |
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