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On 3/13/2010 11:53 AM, Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote (after I snipped a
bit):<br>
<blockquote cite="mid:20100313195610.C65308DB0062@zapata.dreamhost.com"
type="cite">Attempts have been made to apply this to public elections.
I forget the city, but there was a proposal in the early 20th century
to hold an election for a City Council where, in the council,
representatives would exercise the votes they recieved in the general
election. This would have been, for the first time, true and accurate
representation before the Council. Because some council members would
have many more votes than others, others would have less; this would
produce a more representative result than a scheme in which votes are
allocated to seats equally, because smaller groups could still obtain
seats. (Assume a fixed number of seats. Suppose the top N vote-getters
are elected in a vote-for-one election. Look at the minimum number of
votes obtained by a candidate who nevertheless obtained a seat. In a
system which redistributes votes somehow so that a faction with 2Q
votes gets two seats, and Q votes are required to win a seat, and there
are N seats, compared to one where the top N candidates get seats, with
variable voting power, it's obvious that since for some seats in the
latter case, more than Q votes were obtained, some must have less, and
thus smaller factions get representation.)
<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
I just wanted to point out a hero of mine from my home state, William
S. U'Ren (Wiki article here: <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Simon_U%27Ren">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Simon_U'Ren</a>
). He was the father of Oregon's Initiative (1902), Referendum (1902),
and Recall (1908) movement at the turn of the 20th century. He also
campaigned for the popular election of U.S. Senators (well, okay, so
there can be an argument about the usefulness of this), and helped
establish the first Presidential primary (1910).<span
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(I think these dates are accurate.)<br>
<br>
This is just background for my main point, though. Quoting Wiki, "In
1912, he (U'Ren) proposed an amendment to the Oregon Constitution to
essentially weigh each legislator's vote on proposed bills according to
the number of votes he received in the last election." <br>
<br>
The abstract from the New York Times of the period reads: "<span
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style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia,'times new roman',serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: left;">SALEM,
Ore., June 29. -- It is a remarkable plan of government that has been
evolved by the People's Power League for presentation to the people at
the coming State election under the initiative. Its intent is to have
all the votes cast in any election represented in the legislative
assembly by proxy members whose voting power in that body shall be
gauged by the number of electors who voted for them."<br>
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Article in PDF: <a
href="http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=980CEED91E3CE633A25753C3A9609C946396D6CF">http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=980CEED91E3CE633A25753C3A9609C946396D6CF</a><br>
(I hope that works, New York Times links sometimes go to a login
screen).<br>
<br>
He didn't come close to succeeding in this particular endeavor, but he
did show how a politician with a knack for thinking about election
methods could alter the course of government. Unfortunately, he has
been almost forgotten, even in Oregon, though every election cycle we
see his handiwork in voter initiatives and referendums (only rarely is
there any grumbling of recall, though it's still possible).<br>
<br>
Michael Rouse<br>
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