Electoral change may indeed be slow in coming, but I believe that raising awareness among Utahns of how voters are cheated out of fair elections by the existing rules can help usher in change.

Electoral reformers are encouraged by the local initiatives that passed last year in Sarasota (FL), Aspen (CO), and Pierce County (WA).

I also hope that Democrats will lose enthusiasm over so-called “independent” or bipartisan redistricting commissions. They have failed to bring about more competitive elections where they have been tried (follow the link associated with this post for an analysis of these redistricting commissions). The problem is that with single member districts, you can have outcomes that are more competitive or more representative, but you can’t have both. With multi-member districts you can have both.

Thanks for your comment. I saw an article you wrote a while ago about the problem of gerrymandering while I was researching this post. You make some good points. Unfortunately I don’t have as much faith as you do that Republicans in Utah would ever allow something like proportional representation to happen in here. I agree that it is better in many ways than the all or nothing system so common in the U.S.

Most of the world’s democracies use some form of this design, called proportional representation, full representation, or choice voting, among other terms.

The concept is that ten percent of the vote would yield ten percent of the legislatives seats … similar to what Movimiento Libertario — the Libertarian Party in Costa Rica — enjoys.

Yes, Americans would have to trade in single-member districts and one- or two-party political monopolies for multi-member districts and multi-party systems.

I also encouraged Rep. Frank and the public to call for the formation of a citizens assembly on electoral reform, similar to what has been done in British Columbia.

These reforms are beginning to catch on in America. Visit the web site of FairVote: The Center for Voting and Democracy for more information.

I like that idea. Another idea would be a requirement that the commission created to draw up precinct boundaries be composed of equal numbers of members of both parties. I know this means that 3rd parties get the shaft but they don’t really matter much anyway.

We need some method that will ensure that one party isn’t corrupting the system as our Republicans so clearly did last time the lines were drawn.

WP, How could you use Bensonized and Hatch in the same sentence. Hatch is so diametrically opposite of Benson when it comes to the establishment that they couldn’t be further apart. Besides, Benson only advocates persuasion to get people to come around to understanding the proper role of government. It is ironic that you would use Benson’s name derogatorily in conjunction with gerrymandering, something that he clearly would never advocate.

jasonthe,

I’ll work on it. I like t-shirts!

I think libertarians are the future of the Democratic Party. That may not please too many economically liberal Democrats but in Utah libertarians are a large constituency who aren’t well served by our state’s loony-tunes socially conservative Republicans. Democrats should move to gain some political power with even some small amount of lip service in favor of smaller government.