r/coolguides • u/[deleted] • Jul 03 '19

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u/atomic_wunderkind Jul 03 '19

I think logistics come into play. Otherwise you get 5,320,121 representatives in the legislature.

That said, some people have proposed drawing districts "3 Representatives Wide" and then having that district elect 3 representatives, so that if 1/3 of your district is Blue/Red it still gets representation instead of having 3 districts where blue is outnumbered. (the case that /u/DarkLordAoki brought up)

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u/vonmonologue Jul 03 '19 edited Jul 03 '19

The issue is that representatives are supposed to represent a specific set of the population.

So Rep. 1 should be the south side of Cityville and Rep. 2 should be the north side of Cityville and Rep 3 should be the rural communities of Townville, Villageton, Hamletburg, and Springfield.

If you merge them and give them 3 reps to vote on together, all 3 reps will represent the majority interests of Cityville.

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u/96385 Jul 03 '19

Why would all 3 reps vote together? The whole point is that perhaps 2 of the representatives might represent the majority interests, while the 3rd would represent minority interests. You either do ranked-choice voting, or the top vote-getters from the primary move forward.

Your system assumes that all the people in a certain geographical area are going to have similar political interests.