[EM] What's wrong with the party list system?

[Kathy Dopp]

On Mon, Jul 4, 2011 at 9:30 AM, Kristofer Munsterhjelm
<km_elmet at lavabit.com> wrote:

>
> You could make a party list system that would arrange the list after the
> election, yes. This would have a ballot where you first pick a party and
> then order the party's candidates.

Yes, the open party list system already exists in nations and Juho has
discussed it nicely on this list.  I think most open party list
systems today allow voters to vote for the party and simply one
candidate from that party.

>
> However, either the election method used within each party to determine the
> list orders would be majoritarian (in which case the system isn't
> proportional beyond the party level),

Plurality is how it is done I believe.  To have PR within the party
would require some sort of party primary system I suppose to determine
which candidates are on each list in the general election for each
party.

> or it would be PR (in which case you
> could just as easily remove the party constraint and just use the PR method
> directly).

Then you don't have a party list system - Do you mean use STV again?

>
> I suppose a "party list with Condorcet for each party" method would both be
> summable and inter-party proportional[1]. If the largest party fields n
> candidates and there are k parties, then you would have an upper bound of k
> * n^2 numbers, which is polynomial in the summability sense. You would in
> essence do k "mini-elections", one for each party.
>
> [1] that is, proportional between parties, if not inside each.
>

That is an interesting idea that would require a different ballot type
than in existing party list systems whereby one could rank all the
candidates within a particular party one votes for.  In that case, we
might want to return to the days where people cast a party ballot -
but that brings up privacy concerns for some people -- but no more
than registering for a political party and voting in a political party
primary IMO.

The nice feature of existing party list methods is that it allows the
election of a large number of candidates to a large national body of
legislators without requiring voters to rank individually a huge
number of candidates. This makes the job for voters and election
administrators much easier than asking voters to rank from among a
huge number of candidates.  (which makes me less inclined to even work
on the on-the-fly party list system I have in mind - which would be
probably only administratively and voter practical for electing
smaller, more local bodies of representatives.)


-- 

Kathy Dopp
http://electionmathematics.org
Town of Colonie, NY 12304
"One of the best ways to keep any conversation civil is to support the
discussion with true facts."

Fundamentals of Verifiable Elections
http://kathydopp.com/wordpress/?p=174

View some of my research on my SSRN Author page:
http://ssrn.com/author=1451051