Four years ago, I wrote in this space about how California elections produce results that are unrepresentative of voter choices.
The losers, in these unfair elections, are Republicans. They receive a lower percentage of seats in the legislature than the percentage of votes they get in elections.
Four years later, this is still true. Indeed, Californians for Electoral Reform recently sent me data showing that in 2016, Democrats won a supermajority in each house of the legislature while receiving less than 2/3 of the vote. Democrats also earned more than their fair share of California seats in Congress.
In the Assembly, Democrats won 68.75 percent of the seats, with only 61.08 percent of the votes in the November elections. In the state Senate, the last full cycle – 2014 and 2016 – saw Democrats capture 67.50 percent of the seats with less than 62 percent of the votes. Republicans were on the losing end, getting 32.5 percent of the seats with more than 37 percent of the vote.
These persistent results raise a question: why aren’t Republicans embracing the serious political reform the state needs? That reform is proportional representation.
PR refers to election systems where legislative seats are doled out proportionally to the number of votes that parties get. Such a change would be fairer for everyone – representation should align with votes. And it also would be better for Republicans. Indeed, under the current system, it’s hard to see how Republicans can become relevant again; even if they win more votes, our voting system (with single member districts and first-past-the-post voting) is set up to exaggerate the strength of the majority party.
If the California GOP embraced reform, Republicans would find natural allies among smaller parties and independents, who also are underrepresented in the current system. The media also might support it, since fairer political competition might create more conversation about ideas and issues.
Maybe Democrats would be open to the idea too. Democrats are particularly sensitive right now to the problems of defective democratic systems that don’t align representation with actual votes. That’s how you get a president who lost the popular vote. Or a Republican U.S. Senate despite the fact that Democrats nationwide got more votes for U.S. Senate seats than Republicans.