[EM] Question for STV-PR supporters

[Alex Small]

James Gilmour said:
> But locality is a real and important issue for electors.  When asked
> relevant questions in surveys, there is strong support in Scotland for
> the idea of having a local representative.  And I have seen at first
> hand in an STV-PR election in Northern Ireland, voters transfer their
> preferences across the parties to secure local representation.  To those
> voters, PR of their locality was more important than PR of their
> preferred party.

I don't know that it's even locality per se.  I think it's more "This is
MY Representative."  There's a clear delineation of who supposedly
represents who (although the people who didn't vote for the winner aren't
really represented).  If you're upset over something you don't have to
ponder which Representative to write to, because a Representative has
already been assigned to ignore your letter.

I think we're stuck with SMD in the US for the forseeable future.  The
best we can hope for anytime soon is PR in half of a bicameral
legislature.



Alex