Proportional Representation Increases Voter Participation

Howie Hawkins, Green Party candidate for Mayor of Syracuse

The Onondaga Citizens League report contains several good recommendations to increase voter turnout (Post-Standard, Oct. 9, Oct 16). But it neglected the most powerful reform: proportional representation.

Proportional representation has proven itself across the world and across the decades to result in far higher voter turnout than our winner-take-all system based on plurality winners in single member districts.

Under winner-take-all, a candidate with 49 percent of the vote can lose to a candidate with 51 percent. In such cases, the voters in the district of the losing candidate's party don't get any representation even though they are nearly half of the district.

Under proportional representation, each party gets representation in proportion to the vote its candidates receive. 20 percent of the vote gets a party's candidate 20 percent of the legislative seats.

No vote is wasted. No candidate is seen as a spoiler. Voters do not have to settle for voting for the lesser evil to stop the greater evil between the major parties when they really prefer a minor party.

Under winner-take-all, most political districts are one-party states. Why should Democrats in a majority Republican district, Republicans in a majority Democratic district, or Greens in any district bother voting when the majority party wins election after election? Under proportional representation, whether your party is in the majority or a minority, your vote still counts toward your party getting its fair share of representation.

Proportional representation eliminates three of the major reasons for low voter turnout that the Onondaga Citizens League report correctly identified:

Lack of Competition: Because every vote counts, parties with minority support still compete and get their fair share of representation. Voters get more parties and candidates to choose from.

Gerrymandered Districts: Districts cannot be gerrymandered to favor incumbents under proportional representation because every vote for every party counts toward determining its share of representation.

Negative Campaigning: Proportional representation penalizes negative campaigning. In a two-party race, a negative campaigning pays off because it hurts the victim more than the victimizer. In a multi-party system, parties that stay positive benefit while negative campaigners hurt themselves.

Countries with proportional systems not only have far higher voter turnout. They also have more parties on the ballots and in the legislatures, and more women and ethnic minorities elected to office.

If we really want to increase voter turnout in Onondaga County, we should use proportional representation to elect the Onondaga County Legislature, Syracuse Common Council, and the various town, village, and school boards. For single seat executive offices like mayor and county executive, we should use instant run-off voting.

People can learn more about proportional representation and instant run-off voting at http://www.fairvote.org or pick up informational literature at the Green Party office at 2617 S. Salina St., Syracuse, 474-7055.

Howie Hawkins

Green Party candidate for Mayor

Syracuse