[EM] PROPORTIONAL REPERSENTATION (PR) OHIO

[Don Hoffard]

PROPORTIONAL REPERSENTATION (PR) OHIO: Ohio has 16 Representatives to
Congress. In the last election (2018) they elected 12 Republicans and 4
Democrats.  The state has been accrued of Gerrymandering and the issue is
now before the US Supreme Court. I added all of the votes of all 16
congressional districts and found that the Republican got 52% and Democrats
got 48% (just between the two main parties). A fair representation of the
voters of Ohio would be 8 Republicans and 8 Democrats (52%/48% *16 = rounded
to 8/8) based on the votes cast in the last election.  Was the cause
Gerrymandering? Let us do a fair redistricting of the state so that each
district reflects the state as a whole (52%R/48%D) (Not really possible,
however) and had a new election. The result would 16 Republicans and 0
Democrats, where the Republicans would win every districts (52%/48%) with no
Gerrymandering. The real problem in Ohio (and in most states) is the "Winner
take all" single district system.

PROPORTIONAL REPERSENTATION (PR): To do PR you need a ranked list of
candidates by party (top to bottom) and a percent voting for each party at
the state level (say 52%R/48%D). For Ohio we would pick the top 8 on the
Democrats list and the top 8 on the Republicans list and they would be
Ohio's representatives to Congress. Traditionally there would be no
districts and the party rankings are done at the state level (all state
party members vote on the rankings). A party member would vote for 1 (or
alternatively vote for 16). Ok, this is where I have a problem with this
method.  It would be hard for any Republican (or Democrat) voter to know, or
even how to rank 16 state wide candidates. Secondly, more of the higher
ranked candidates could come from the cities and would not truly represent
some the rural areas of the state. Lastly, a person in Ohio could not tell
who is representing them in Congress.

ALTERNATIVE (PR):  Let us keep the congressional districts (16).  We will
then have each district vote by party preference ('which party do you
prefer"). Some district may have 67% to 33% republican preference votes,
while others districts may have 80% to 28% democratic preference votes. We
add the party preference votes of each district to get a state level
preference vote total.  Let us assume that it is about (52%R/48%D).  We
would use this to determine the states "preferred" proportion of
representatives to Congress (8R/8D). Now in the primary each party would
vote for their candidate to represent them in each of the 16 districts (the
same as current). The Republican candidates in each district with their top
8 percent's (%) preference votes would be elected to Congress. The
Democratic candidate in each district with their top 8 percent's (%)
preference votes would also be elected to Congress.

Don Hoffard

Aloha, Oregon

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