Good reply, Tyler, I like the conversation we’re having.

In New Zealand, the system of winner-take-all was changed in 1996 to incorporate proportional voting. The number of women chosen in the very first election jumped from 21% to 30.8%. Where there used to be one in five representatives female, it jumped to almost one in three when the system was changed. I believe it is 40% today. Change the system to incorporate proportional voting and more women will end up getting a seat because the discriminating threshold is then lowered.

The fine point about district voting (particularly for the more important seats) is that anything can end up being a dis-qualifier if it sways that one group of people that would have otherwise picked this and not the other candidate. The system, unfortunately, discriminates against women. Only one in four senators is female, while the population at large has 50%+ women. No woman was ever president.

In the Senate, one can see best what the system supports beyond natural distribution: rich, white, old men. One in eight Americans is African-American. One should expect an outcome of no less than (say) one in twelve senators be African-American. If we do not find that outcome (it’s one in 33 right now, a historical high), then we can conclude there are discriminating factors in place and review what’s going on.

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Here is an interesting point of view in that (at the national level) staunch republicans and staunch democrats are locked in with their choices already. Using the color scheme, the ones in the middle are mostly purple, and perhaps not all that fanatic about politics. Yet they must pick between red and blue, or stay home. They decide the outcome.

The voters least interested in either party’s ideology are therefore the ones helping make the ultimate decision.

Voters compete with voters in our system. The parties themselves have very little competition in our system. The worst area is actually the local level where throughout the United States very close to all seats are taken up by candidates from one party only. If you’re lucky, you live in an area where both parties have a presence.

Thank you for the conversation.