Question for Election Experts: Could States use Statewide Elections to Avoid Gerrymandering?

[cmmngrnd]

This won't happen, but perhaps an interesting thought experiment.

What if states adopted statewide elections for members of the House as well as Senators? Basically voters vote for a party, and each party gets to send members to Congress based on the percentage of the vote. If a state is supposed to send ten members to Congress, and party A gets 60% of the vote and party B gets 40% of the vote, then party A sends 6 members and party B sends 4. How do they select the actual people? I have no idea. One way would be for each party to advertise ordered lists of potential House members. Once the votes are tallied they go down the list as far as the percentage of vote totals go. Another would be to pair off the candidates against each other from the parties. Another would be to vote for "electors" who then choose who the House members are.

This eliminates gerrymandering. It also opens the door for third parties and would make the house more representative of the overall population in terms of party make-up. I guess the House would look more like a parliament, with coalition building being required if third parties obtain a non-trivial number of seats.

Does the Constitution allow it? Does current federal law allow it? Are the drawbacks worse than the benefits? Would any states actually do it?

Thoughts?

[EdmondDantes_]

1. The constitution doesn't mention districts, but I doubt that would happen

Without a ruling that gerrymandering is illegal, there's no incentive. I live in Massachusetts and even though we have somewhere around 35-40% Republicans, we have none elected to federal office. Likewise in a state like Mississippi, Republicans don't have an incentive to give the 30-35% of Democrats seats.

I do agree it would create a more accurate representation and open opportunities for smaller parties.

[The Revolution]

2. Prevented by the UCDA

Currently you can't do this for Congress due to the Uniform Congressional District Act (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Congressional_District_Act)

But it had been used in the past and some states do it at the state level. I have seen people propose multi member districts as a reform, so you are not alone in that thinking. Personally I would lean toward expanding the House as a higher priority (at least double or triple the current size). I would prefer compact districts over statewide districts with multiple members.

[cmmngrnd]

3. Great information - thank you. nt