Direct representation

Last updated April 15, 2023

Direct representation^[1] or proxy representation^[2] is a form of representative democracy where voters can vote for any candidate in the land, and each representative's vote is weighted in proportion to the number of citizens who have chosen that candidate to represent them.

Direct representation is in contrast to other forms of representative democracy. In winner-take-all system, the winners of plurality contests in the districts, party election or other voting, has one vote in the assembly irrespective of how many votes he or she received. As well, under direct representation, the group represented by the member is voluntary and of similar sentiment unlike under First-past-the-post voting where voters are arbitrarily lumped together by geography, not grouped by sentiment.

Direct representation is similar to proportional representation and STV systems in that each elected member is elected through the support of a similar number of votes but is different in that in list PR systems the number of representatives allotted to each party or political faction is roughly in proportion to the number of voters supporting each party or faction - voters do not vote for individual candidates as directly as under direct representation.^[1]

Direct representation is seen by its supporters as an optimal compromise between pure direct democracy and conventional representative democracy, as legislative decisions will more closely reflect the pure will of the people yet will still be carried out by a "wise", "experienced" or professional group of informed and accountable elected representatives. Because any voter can vote for any candidate in the land, direct representation is unaffected by any division into districts, and thus not susceptible to gerrymandering. Districts only serve a logistical purpose in organizing the elections.

It also avoids disenfranchisement of large voter groups, that are only slightly in the minority, in cases where the electorate is split nearly evenly in its choice for representation, yet the preferred representative of only one faction must be chosen to represent the entire electorate of a party or district.^[1]

Variants

Proportional Instant Runoff is a variant where all candidates participate in a single instant runoff election which eliminates the least popular candidates and redistributes their ballots to each voter's next-best choice, until the desired legislature size is achieved. Each Representative's voting power is then based on the number of ballots allocated to them in the final tally. This allows the legislature size to be easily limited while ensuring a wide range of minority viewpoints are represented, and each voter is represented by their favorite winning candidate.
Single Proxy Representation (SPxR) is a variant where an electoral district would elect a single representative by first past the post, who then votes in a legislature with the votes received during the election. While not providing the all advantages of full PxR/DR, SPxR would limit legislature size, reward inclusiveness, and blunts the effect of gerrymandering. SPxR has the advantage of being an easy to explain relatively minor change for a currently implemented non-proxy representative systems such as the US House of Representatives. The disadvantage of SPxR over full PxR/DR is lack of representation for political minority views.
Support Polling is a variant where rather than deciding Representative's voting power based on the results of the election to office, it is based on a separate poll conducted once the winning Representatives are all known, with each voter choosing which of the winners to support. Such support polling may take place more frequently than the election to office, or even continuously with voters being able to change their vote at any time, possibly online or by mail to eliminate the need for local polling infrastructure. That would provide for more responsive voter feedback to Representatives' actions, and eliminates the need for additional large-scale simultaneous polling, but would make it difficult if not impossible to provide substantial vote secrecy, and would likely require strong voter identity verification to avoid fraudulent vote changes.

Benefits

Supporters of direct representation cite the following benefits:^[1]

Unlike direct democracy, voters do not vote on legislation themselves but rather elect representatives to perform legislative duties on their behalf, thus reducing the amount of time and energy the average citizen has to spend thinking about and voting on specific legislation.
Unlike representation determined by plurality or majority vote, every voter in an election district has their vote represented in the legislature regardless of whether or not their choice won a plurality or majority of votes.
Unlike proportional representation, each voter votes for a specific representative to represent them, rather than a political party. This provides voters a wider range of nuance in political platforms to choose from, rather than simply having to choose between a relatively small number of "one-size-fits-all" parties. It also means that even the smallest interests can be heard.
Every vote is equal to every other vote.
States' and districts' political power is proportional to the number of their residents who vote. This is deemed more fair by some than representation by population because those in the population who cannot or choose not to vote do not subsequently lend their weight to those in the state or district who can and do. Hence a state with a high child-to-adult ratio will not give each voter more representational weight than a state with fewer children per adult, for example. The same is true for other residents who are ineligible to vote, such as non-citizen legal residents, illegal aliens, prisoners, and convicted felons.
Because the majority of voters in a district cannot be shut out of the process as in some plurality elections (where the winning candidate falls short of majority support), coalition-building among non-plurality-winners is possible and effective, both generally and on specific issues.

Disadvantages

Unwieldy, suffers from scalability issues. In the USHR example below, the 435 current members are already considered cumbersome for debate, if each of those seats broke into three, 1,305 would cause logistical issues. This is a best case of only three parties, if it grew to unlimited parties it would quickly reach unreasonable numbers.
Increased burden on voters. While a minor disadvantage compared to the benefit of more accurate representation, DR puts greater pressure on voters to vote. In first past post systems many elections are “predetermined” by electorate demographics, many voters don't vote knowing it won't matter.
Greater likelihood of compulsory voting. Depending on opinion could be listed under benefits. If a politician's power is dependent on the number of votes, they will work to maximize the number of voters. While voter inclusion is generally viewed as a noble goal, the obvious optimal solution is to remove people's freedom not to participate. In a multi-state country, if one state implemented compulsory voting to increase their total, all the other states would be under significant pressure to follow the same tactic.

Example

Suppose there is a congressional district with 400,000 residents eligible to vote and three candidates running to represent it, A, B, and C. Further suppose that in the election, A receives 90,000 votes (45% of total), B receives 70,000 (35%), and C receives 40,000 (20%), with the remaining eligible voters declining to vote. Under the plurality voting system, such as that used to elect members of the United States House of Representatives, A would "win" the election and hence only A would be allowed to vote in the legislature, with the weight of a single vote. Under a direct representative system, A, B, and C would all be allowed to participate in and vote in the legislature, with each candidate being able to cast the number of votes equal to the number they received themselves in the election. Hence if B and C happen to agree on an issue that A disagrees with them on, with direct representation they can out-vote A on that issue (110,000 to 90,000) since they represent the choice of more voters in their district, whereas with representation determined by a plurality of voters, only A can cast a vote on the issue, while B and C, who together represent a majority of the electorate, are completely shut out from the legislature.

A direct representation scheme was proposed in Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress :

Suppose instead of election a man were qualified for office by petition signed by four thousand citizens. He would then represent those four thousand affirmatively, with no disgruntled minority, for what would have been a minority in a territorial constituency would all be free to start other petitions or join in them. All would then be represented by men of their choice. Or a man with eight thousand supporters might have two votes in this body. Difficulties, objections, practical points to be worked out— many of them! But you could work them out. . . and thereby avoid the chronic sickness of representative government, the disgruntled minority which feels— correctly!— that it has been disenfranchised.

Related Research Articles

Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate(s), who poll more than any other counterpart, are elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects just one member per district and may also be referred to as first-past-the-post (FPTP), single-member plurality (SMP/SMDP), single-choice voting, simple plurality or relative majority. A system which elects multiple winners elected at once with the plurality rule, such as one based on multi-seat districts, is referred to as plurality block voting.

Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions among voters. The essence of such systems is that all votes cast – or almost all votes cast – contribute to the result and are effectively used to help elect someone – not just a bare plurality, or (exclusively) the majority – and that the system produces mixed, balanced representation reflecting how votes are cast.

The single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate preferences if their preferred candidate is eliminated or elected with surplus votes, so that their vote is used to elect someone they prefer over others in the running. STV aims to approach proportional representation based on votes cast in the district where it is used, so that each vote is worth about the same as another.

In political science, Duverger's law holds that single-ballot majoritarian elections with single-member districts tend to favor a two-party system. The discovery of this tendency is attributed to Maurice Duverger, a French sociologist who observed the effect and recorded it in several papers published in the 1950s and 1960s. In the course of further research, other political scientists began calling the effect a "law" or principle.

Single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an electoral system used to elect multiple winners. It is a generalization of first-past-the-post, applied to multi-member districts with each voter casting just one vote. Unlike FPTP, which is a single-winner system, in SNTV multiple winners are elected, typically in electoral districts; additionally, unlike FPTP, SNTV produces mixed representation and makes it unlikely for a single party to take all the seats in a city or a province, which can happen under FPTP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voting</span> Method for a group to make a collective decision or express an opinion

Voting is a method by which a group, such as a meeting or an electorate, convenes together for the purpose of making a collective decision or expressing an opinion usually following discussions, debates or election campaigns. Democracies elect holders of high office by voting. Residents of a jurisdiction represented by an elected official are called "constituents," and the constituents who choose to cast a ballot for their chosen candidate are called "voters." There are different systems for collecting votes, but while many of the systems used in decision-making can also be used as electoral systems, any which cater to proportional representation can only be used in elections.

Block voting or bloc voting refers to electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected at once and a group of voters can force the system to elect only their preferred candidates. Block voting may be used at large or in several multi-member districts. Most types of block voting fall under the multiple non-transferable vote type of system; these terms are sometimes used synonymously. Block voting is also used synonymously with the term majoritarian representation (winner-takes-all) in the context of multi-winner electoral systems.

In a first-past-the-post electoral system, formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their vote for a candidate of their choice, and the candidate who receives the most votes wins even if the top candidate gets less than 50%, which can happen when there are more than two popular candidates.

Parallel voting is a type of mixed electoral system in which representatives are voted into a single chamber using two or more different systems, most often first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) with party-list proportional representation (PR). It is the most common form of mixed member majoritarian representation (MMM), which is why these terms are often used synonymously with each other. In some countries, parallel voting is known as the supplementary member (SM) system, while in academic literature it is sometimes called the superposition method within mixed systems.

The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart.

An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state created to provide its population with representation in the larger state's legislative body. That body, or the state's constitution or a body established for that purpose, determines each district's boundaries and whether each will be represented by a single member or multiple members. Generally, only voters (constituents) who reside within the district are permitted to vote in an election held there. District representatives may be elected by a first-past-the-post system, a proportional representative system, or another voting method. They may be selected by a direct election under universal suffrage, an indirect election, or another form of suffrage.

In electoral systems, a wasted vote is any vote that does not receive representation in the final election outcome. This includes lost votes, and excess votes. When applied to ranked-vote systems it includes exhausted votes. Wasted votes can also be called unrepresented votes.

A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner voting, winner-takes-all, single-member constituencies or single-member electorates.

The multiple non-transferable vote (MNTV) is a group of voting system, in which voters elect several representatives at once, with each voter having more than one vote. MNTV uses multi-member electoral districts or only one district, which contains all voters, which is used to provide at-large representation.

Interactive representation is a proposed governance system in which elected officials have the same number of votes as the number of people that voted for them. It was proposed in Oregon in 1912 by William S. U'Ren and in Virginia in 2001 by Bill Redpath.

Plurality block voting, also known as plurality-at-large voting, block vote or block voting (BV) is a non-proportional voting system for electing representatives in multi-winner elections. Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of seats to be filled. The usual result where the candidates divide into parties is that the most popular party in the district sees its full slate of candidates elected in a seemingly landslide victory.

An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections may take place in business, non-profit organisations and informal organisations. These rules govern all aspects of the voting process: when elections occur, who is allowed to vote, who can stand as a candidate, how ballots are marked and cast, how the ballots are counted, how votes translate into the election outcome, limits on campaign spending, and other factors that can affect the result. Political electoral systems are defined by constitutions and electoral laws, are typically conducted by election commissions, and can use multiple types of elections for different offices.

A majoritarian electoral system is an electoral system where the candidate with the most votes takes the seat using the winner-takes-all principle and in this way provides majoritarian representation. However, there are many electoral systems considered majoritarian based on different definitions, including types of at-large majoritarian representation such as block voting or party block voting, but district-based majoritarian systems such as first-past-the-post voting (FPTP/SMP). Where two candidates are in the running, the one with the most votes will have a majority, but where there are three or more candidates, it often happens that no candidate takes a majority of the votes.

Mixed member majoritarian representation (MMM) is type of a mixed electoral system combining majoritarian and proportional methods, where the disproportional results of the majoritarian side of the system prevail over the proportional component. Mixed member majoritarian systems are therefore also as a type of semi-proportional representation, and are usually contrasted with mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) which aims to provide proportional representation via additional compensation ("top-up") seats.

References

1 2 3 4 Dave Robinson. "Direct Representation".
↑ Anatole Beck (2001). "A More Proportional Representation".

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[directrep.org/article-1] 1 2 3 4 Dave Robinson. "Direct Representation".

[2] Anatole Beck (2001). "A More Proportional Representation".

[1]

[2]