Should the US adopt Mixed Member Proportional Representation for the House of Representatives?
Under Mixed Member Proportional Representation (MMP) voters get two votes. The first vote would decide the proportionality of the House while the second vote would decide the representative for the voter’s congressional district. Half the seats in the House would be elected from the congressional districts while the second half would be party list seats (they would be filled by the political parties). Seats would be distributed to the parties based on the percentage of the votes they receive. If a political party won 45% of the vote, then they would receive 45% of the seats in the House. They would fill their seats starting with their candidates who won in the congressional districts; then, if the party had any seats left over, they would be able to fill those seats from a party list (a list of everyone the party would like to seat in the House). Under and MMP system, we would still be able to have a direct say over our representatives, yet the House would be proportional. Take the 200
