A Colorado Democratic Vision (Proportional Representation for CO Assembly proposal)
Jan Kok
Choice Task Force meeting, but it wasn't discussed. I don't know who
the author is. - Jan
A COLORADO
DEMOCRATIC VISION:
A MODERN ELECTORAL SYSTEM
This is a call to devise an electoral system to choose the state
legislature and state constitutional offices that is equitable and
participatory.
We need to replace the present bicameral system with a unicameral
system. The argument to do this is simple. The House of
Representatives and the Senate are proportioned on a population basis
which is a duplication of the same system.
To achieve equity and participation we need to have an 'Instant
Run-off Voting-IRV' for elections for a single office and a
'Proportional Representation-PR' electoral system for the remaining
seats in the state legislature. IRV guarantees majority victories
without additional elections. PR guarantees representation for all
political ideas.
This would apply only to the General Election since party primaries
are by caucus.
The present number of seats in the legislature would be the same –
100. 65 seats would be elected by district as is done now. The
remaining 35 seats would be allocated/proportioned to each Political
Party by PR with a 5% state threshold.
Party's would make-up a list of individuals who ran for office in a
district and lost with those who gained the highest number of votes
being at the top of the list and so on down. These individuals would
fill the 35 seats by PR for each Party qualifying with a minimum
threshold of a 5% statewide vote.
To be a Party - 5,000 signatures must be gotten with a minimum of 30
in each House District but no more than 1,000 in any district.
Established Party's who ran a candidate for Governor in the previous
election would not have to qualify to be a party.
Independents could gain access to the General Election for each
district by gaining 200 signatures in their district. Independents for
state constitutional offices would be required to get 1,000 signatures
statewide.
IRV would be used for each district. Voters rank candidates in order
or choice and their ballot counts for their top-ranked choice in the
running in every round. In each round, the last-place candidate is
eliminated until the winner receives 50% plus 1 of the vote. IRV
would be used for all state constitutional offices until an individual
receives 50% plus 1.
The first count of all the legislative district votes would establish
the Party percentage of vote for PR to allocate the 35 seats.
Example of PR election: Party Right got 7% of the vote, Party Left
got 6% of the vote. Party Center Right got 33% of the vote. Party
Center Left got 25 % of the vote, Party Libertarian got 14% of the
vote and Party Green got 15% of the vote.
Allocation of the 35 PR seats:
Party Right = 2 seats (2.45), Party Left = 2 seats (2,1), Party
Center Right = 12 seats (11.25), Party Center Left = 9 seats (8.75),
Party Libertarian = 5 seats (4.9) and Party Green = 5 seats (5.25).
Total 35 seats. In the event that the total is either lower or higher
than 35 seats then the highest fractions or the lowest fractions would
be used to gain or lose seats.
If no party earned a majority of seats, it could form a coalition with
independents and minority parties to form 'leadership positions'.
This promotes reaching out beyond a party's more narrow base of
support
By using both IRV and PR for the legislature, citizens would have as
true of a representation that would be possible and practical. Those
with minority views would not be marginalized as in the two-party
system. The center is then truly dynamic.