I agree, Anthony, I have a clear preference for open lists as well.
That said, I welcome most any change when that breaks open the two-party model.
A color copier only needs three colors (plus black) to print anything in full color (on white paper). Same for a well functioning full-color democracy. Just a tad more freedom will already make the parties listen up far better to what all voters want (and that also results then in diminishing the influence special interests have on our politicians).
It is an interesting question in how far we want to follow the pure form of representation (and then sometimes ending up with 17 parties in the seats) and the desire to keep a nation stable (particularly important for a nation as large and important as the USA).
I am willing to go for a less pure system if that provides stability as long as there are more than two parties in the controlling seats over the years.
Yet I also warn for multi-seat districts. It is the other much used mix of winner-take-all with proportional voting. The following is not automatically true, but it happens too often that a centrist party gains control and stays in place for decades.
One party in such a privileged position is not healthy. It becomes then a bulwark by itself, including subsequent group think and power corruptions.
I really wish democracy was a simple, one-version system. But it is actually very complex.
The excellent part about New Zealand is that they do not have multiple layers of top government. There is just a single House, which means that the voters have maximum control per their votes.
But let me agree once more with you. Because New Zealand is a small nation (the joke is that they do not have six degrees of separation, but only two), they could have gone with true proportional voting.
One way to control the appearance of too many little parties is by bringing back the number of representatives. A nation with 400 seats in their House has a threshold of .25% of the votes per seat. Contrast this to a nation with 80 seats that has a threshold of 2.0% of the votes per seat. The 400 seats House can potentially establish a plethora of little parties, while the 80 seats House will limit that far better.
Thank you for your additional thoughts.
