Is it strange to be as interested in alternative voting mechanism as I am? Part of me just thinks that this winner take all system is like being in the democratic dark ages. If the goal is collective decision making, winner take all is really lame. There are better ways (but there is no perfect way).
Here is a strange idea about Continuous Elections
For a variety of reasons, I think it a good idea that we introduce into our voting system a greater element of stochasticism, of structured, intentional randomness.
Wow. Go on please.
Suppose we had an electoral system that looked like this: Every month, 5% of the voting roll is randomly selected to cast a ballot for a representative. There’s no big election day: Any time during their month selected voters can come in and cast their vote. After the balloting period has passed, one ballot is randomly selected, and then a virtual coin is flipped that comes up heads only one time in 24. If the coin comes up heads, the current representative is replaced with the randomly selected ballot. If not, that month’s ballots are thrown away, and the representative’s term continues. Under this system, on average, a representative’s terms would be 24 months, but there would never be a period when a representative is more or less near an election.
Extended links:
Choosing Representatives by Lottery Voting, Akhil Reed Amar
Towards a more perfect democracy, David R. MacIver
Proportional representation could save America
This voting reform solves 2 of America’s biggest political problems