Re: Panel Survey from Jamie Raskin

Jamie Raskin included something like this notion as part of a bill that he introduced as a State Senator in 2016:

http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2016RS/bills/sb/sb0762F.pdf

I consider this a horrible idea and don't see how it would better represent the residents of any state.  Unless proportional representation is somehow allowed, each multi-member district would very likely elect all Republicans or all Democrats.  It seems obvious to me that single-member congressional districts are more likely to be representative of state's residents by political party than multi-member ones.  Of course, gerrymandering by whatever party has the power is going to exist, but it would be pretty difficult for Maryland Democrats to totally eliminate Republican representation in the Congress if the single-member district system is retained.  If there are multi-member districts, it could be done.  But where Republicans have the power (and they do in most states), they could wipe out a lot of Democrats.

Ken

K Stevens
ksteve8@verizon.net

-----Original Message-----
From: 'Marty Wulfe' via GMOM-volunteers <GMOM-volunteers@googlegroups.com>
To: GMOM-volunteers <GMOM-volunteers@googlegroups.com>; angad.gmom.hipops <angad.gmom.hipops@blogger.com>
Sent: Tue, Jul 16, 2019 3:15 pm
Subject: Panel Survey from Jamie Raskin

I was just sent a survey from Rep. Raskin asking me about my attitudes about all the right issues: public campaign financing, a constitutional amendment including campaign finance reform and corporate personhood, and gerrymandering.

 

But then there was this one that I was totally unprepared for, related to Government Reform:

 

The idea of this proposal is one that is allowed by the Constitution. This proposal would make larger US House districts that would be represented by more than one Member of Congress. This would increase the likelihood Members of Congress would more accurately mirror the partisan mix of the population. Here is how it would work:

 

• In a state with five or fewer Congressional districts, the state would still have the same number of House Members, but they would be elected by all of the state's voters and represent the whole state.

 

For example, for a state with five Congressional districts, on the ballot there would be at least five Republicans and five Democrats, as well as possible independent and third-party candidates. Five U.S. House Members would be elected by all voters in the state.

Research has been done on what the likely effect would be: election results would more closely mirror the partisan balance of the state. For example, Connecticut is a state in which all five House seats are currently held by Democrats and Oklahoma is one in which all five House seats are currently held by Republicans. The proposed system would likely result in 1-2 Republicans being elected in Connecticut and 1-2 Democrats in Oklahoma.

 

• For states with more than five districts, the state would keep the same number of House Members, but the districts would be redesigned to be larger and have 3-5 Members each. The 3-5 House Members would be elected by all of the voters in these larger districts.

 

Have any of you heard of this before?  Any responses? This is completely new to me.

 

Marty

 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "GMOM-volunteers" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to GMOM-volunteers+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/GMOM-volunteers/0a4201d53c0a%24cbbdc9d0%2463395d70%24%40yahoo.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.