3 ms·
The multi member district approach is preferable to single member districts because it gives a more proportional result. The Australian example demonstrates thi
by erentz 6y ago
The multi member district approach is preferable to single member districts because it gives a more proportional result. The Australian example demonstrates this in the extreme with very large multi member Senate districts electing different parties and single member House districts which end up electing the usual two parties only, maintaining the duopoly.
Arguably multi member districts of between 3-5 members would be a better sweet spot.
Removing the need to rank all members is also an easy solution. If someone doesn’t want their vote to transfer beyond their first or second (etc) preference why should they be forced to? Where STV is used in NZ for local elections you just rank those you want to rank. The Australian requirement to rank all probably stems from their compulsory voting requirement.