Let’s say you have multi-member constituencies. You hold an election with an outcome that looks roughly like this:

  • Candidate #1 received 12,000 votes

  • Candidate #2 received 8,000 votes

  • Candidate #3 recieved 4,000 votes

All three get elected to the legislature, but Candidate #1’s vote on legislation is worth three times Candidate #3’s vote, and #3’s vote is worth half Candidate #2’s vote.

I know that the British Labour Party used to have bloc voting at conference, where trade union reps’ votes were counted as every member of their union voting, so, e.g., if the train drivers’ union had 100,000 members, their one rep wielded 100,000 votes. That’s not quite what I’m describing above, but it’s close.

Bonus question: what do you think would be the pros and cons of such a system?

  • @bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
    16•27 days ago

    No because that would defeat the point of having regional representatives at all. If I live in City X and there is a really tight race between two candidates, and one of them wins by a hair, then you’re saying that all of the people in city X now have the person representing them being weaker in the legislature. It would amplify the bandwagon effect where people vote for the person they think is going to win rather than voting their conscience, because strategically what you’re suggesting is incentivizing the bandwagon effect.

    • @jaycifer@lemmy.world
      7•27 days ago

      That’s not what they’re suggesting. If it was a tight race and candidate A got 13,000 votes while candidate B got 11,000, both candidates would “win.” Their voting power would just be proportional to their votes. In a way, it would be more representative than what you’re saying, because how it works now is that the 11,000 people voting for candidate B wouldn’t have any representation at all.

      • @bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
        4•27 days ago

        Ah, I see. In that case I think the criticism is that you would have proliferation of way too many representatives in legislatures. IMO a legislature shouldn’t be much more than 200 people (though many nations break this threshold). My reasoning is that there is research showing that a person can’t really maintain relationships with more than 200 people.

        • @frankPodmoreOPEnglish
          1•27 days ago

          Yes, I think there would have to be some kind of threshold. Otherwise I could stand as a candidate, vote for for myself and have a seat in the legislature where I wield my one pathetic vote!

    • SanguinePar
      4•27 days ago

      If I live in City X and there is a really tight race between two candidates, and one of them wins by a hair, then you’re saying that all of the people in city X now have the person representing them being weaker in the legislature.

      I think OP is saying that City X would have Reps 1, 2, and 3 (etc), and that (in your scenario), 1 would have a slightly stronger voting power than 2, while 3 had less power again.

      This would mean that almost all voters in the city had some representation that they agree with, but with power apportioned proportionally.

      Compared with City Y (same population), where candidate N won 99% of the vote, N would wield more power than 1, 2 or 3 individually, but the same amount of power as 1, 2 and 3 combined. So the city’s representations would be equal overall.