jnobrien01 <ak47@hotcoolmail.com> to pacleansweep
The organization, PA Clean Sweep, should advocate instant runoff voting to allow for situations where two or more challengers divide the opposition vote and allow an entrenched
incumbent to escape with a plurality.
A good plan would be to use the system used in Illinois from about 1880 to 1980[]
- The House was elected from the same districts as the Senate, but with three members per district.
- Each voter had three votes which he could split any way he wished among the candidates (1-1-1, 2-1 or 3-0). This is cumulative voting.
- The net result was that certain elements were represented that now have no voice in that state's legislature such as Chicago Republicans and downstate Democrats.
This system was abolished in 1980 in the aftermath of a pay raise controversy (sound familiar) with the slogan "fire these guys".
Firing them was all well and good, but not at the expense of having a less representative lower house. There is now a movement in Illinois to restore cumulative voting for the House.