[EM] Re: bicameral design poll

[Rob LeGrand]

Jeffrey O'Neill wrote:
> In MA, the smaller house is 40 and the larger house is 160.  I think it
> would be desirable to create districts solely for the smaller house and
> then use the same districts as 4-member districts for the larger house.
> This would create an interesting geographical linkage between the two
> houses.

I agree with using single-member districts for the smaller house and
multimember districts for the larger house, but I think such a
geographical linkage would be best avoided.  I'd want the two sets of
districts to differ and overlap as much as possible to differentiate the
electorates for the two houses.  In my opinion, that's the major reason
to have a bicameral legislature in the first place.  It would also
dilute the effect of a single instance of gerrymandering somewhat.

I think a district size of five to seven members would be best for a
proportional representation scheme.

=====
Rob LeGrand, psephologist
rob at approvalvoting.org
Citizens for Approval Voting
http://www.approvalvoting.org/

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