Election Reform

Proportional Representation (PR) is one of my three signature issues.  

It is not enough just to count every vote.  We have to MAKE EVERY VOTE COUNT.

PR is an election system.  It is not a form of government.

Basically, if 15% of the people vote Libertarian, then 15% of the State House of Representatives should be Libertarian.  The essence of PR is that EVERY VOTE COUNTS toward electing a representative instead of only a majority or plurality of the votes.

PR is for everyone.  

Democrats who live in Republican Party districts, and Republicans who live in Democratic Party districts never get rewarded for voting.  PR would change that.  PR gives everyone a reason to vote and gives everyone a reason to encourage others to do the same because every voter is sure to help to elect a Representative, no matter how lopsided their political district.

PR appeals to third party supporters, too.

PR maintains local representation. 

If we elect the State House of Representative using PR, everyone would still have a local representative in the form of their State Senator who would continue to be elected from their region. Even if we were to elect both the State Senate and the State House using PR, there are types of PR that allow for local representation.  Because we do have a bicameral legislature, I would prefer we use PR for just the State House and I like the "party list" system where both the "new" and the officially "established" political parties submit their lists of candidates to the Secretary of State who oversees elections.  It is quite simple.  Candidates are chosen top-down based on the percentage of the vote each party receives.   Although it is not perfect, it is well tested and much used as a method for electing members to legislative bodies throughout the world.  

PR fixes our broken democratic process.

Half the State Representative races in Missouri had only one candidate's name on the ballot in the November 2014 election.

Half the State Senate races in 2014 were decided without any voter participation whatsoever.  Only one person filed to run.  We can do democracy better.

Election Results 2014

PR makes Every Vote Count.

It is not enough just to count every vote.  We have to MAKE EVERY VOTE COUNT.  PR truly makes every vote count.  It adds everyone's vote to a total that will send someone to Jefferson City, even if they vote in a one-party district like Cape.

FairVote.org

FairVote is an organization which promotes Proportional Representation and Instant Runoff Voting.  Here is a link to a page they maintain of what they call the world's 35 most "robust democracies".  The US is one of only three which doesn't use Proportional Representation to elect one of its national representative bodies.

http://www.fairvote.org/proportional_representation_in_most_robust_democracies

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Missouri Libertarian Party Platform on Elections