PR/USA

I have done a series of posts about how proportional representation (PR) might be designed for the USA, and how it would reshape our politics for the better. These posts are all collected in the PR-USA block (some posts there are about other legislative bodies aside from the House). Please also see the APSA/Protect Democracy report in which I have a chapter on this topic, coauthored with Jack Santucci and Michael Latner.

The most important post at this blog to date would be my “emergency electoral reform proposal” for an open-list proportional representation system with nominating districts, a reform for US House elections that builds on what we currently have and know. It was initially intended to deal directly with the threat that an authoritarian-captured GOP could retake the House majority in 2022. Of course, such a change did not happen, but that does not mean we should not keep up the fight for a better democracy, including proportional representation.

Given the political challenges of getting PR adopted, we also need to consider whether there might be alternatives that would foster multi-party competition within the constraint of single-seat districts, and whether “fusion” might be a useful approach–particularly an innovation that I call “open fusion.”