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PLACE FAQ: Difference between revisions
→What are some ways that PLACE could pass?
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In Canada: If it gets enough vetting from academics prior to the BC #PropRep referendum in November 2018, it could be on the ballot there. The plan is to have two questions, as they did in New Zealand 1992: first, should FPTP be replaced, and second, if so, with what. The second ballot could have STV, MMP, and PLACE as options. If PLACE wins that vote, it could show effectiveness, and it would then spread to Prince Edward Island and to Canada as a whole.
In the USA: Short version: Attract activists from across the political spectrum, then pass it in a partisan vote by a Democratic congress in around 2021. Democrats could impose it only on states that have been highly gerrymandered through a partisan process; since the impact of this would largely fall on "red" states, this would be relatively politically easy to get Democratic votes for.
Longer version:
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Usually, voting reforms pass through some combination of popular and insider support. For single-winner reforms, which are a direct threat to the two major parties, that usually means a grassroots effort building from locales where there have been a series of high-profile spoiled elections. That's how Bucklin passed in the Progressive era, that's how IRV has notched up successes more recently, and that's the plan for approval voting starting with Fargo ND.
But proportional representation can potentially jump straight to the national level, and thus happen much faster. The key factor would be support from whichever of the two major parties. This is possible because, although in the long term it would break the two-party duopoly, in the short term the benefits to Democrats from fixing the gerrymandering problem exceed the loss of duopoly power. After all, according to Decision Desk HQ, if the House elections happened now are that the Republicans would get 46.2% of the two-party vote, but 52.4% of the seats; so PLACE voting could reasonably accomplish a 6.2% swing towards the Democrats. Even if they also lost 5% to the Greens, they'd still come out ahead. Furthermore, as mentioned above, they could pass it only on states that have been highly gerrymandered through a partisan process; since the impact of this would largely fall on "red" states, this would be relatively politically easy to get Democratic votes for.
So, concretely, the plan would be to build support at the grassroots for the next few years, then to encourage the Democrats to include this in their national platform in 2020. If they win Congress and the White House that year — which is looking very plausible right now — they could then pass this.
=== Historically, how have successful voting reforms passed? ===
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