Subject:  Switch to Reformed First Past The Post (FPTP) Voting (Also known as FPTP Proportional Representation)

Present FPTP Election System Model Ensures Election Failure Rate is High

The present FPTP election system model provides one local district to each voter for voting.  This normally ensures about 50% or more of all voters personally succeed in electing chosen representatives.  As a result, the election failure rate is typically about 50% or less of all voters.  This means voters, the will of the people and representation legitimacy are highly disconnected from representatives that have the right to representation.

Reformed FPTP Strengthens Representation Connections to the People

With reformed FPTP voting; voters vote in local districts as usual and then in each overlapping district of residence on the ballot instead of voting in only one local district of residence. 

Each district on the ballot strengthens the voter’s right to directly elect a candidate of choice.  As a result, the total proportion of voters that elect chosen candidates increases each time an overlapping district of residence is added to the ballot for voting.  This means reformed FPTP elections enable and ensure unprecedented proportions of voters directly elect preferred candidates.

Here’s how more voters elect.  When voters fail to directly elect a preferred candidate from a local first voting district of residence, they get a second chance to directly elect a preferred candidate from a larger overlapping second voting district of residence.  This voting process repeats itself for each additional overlapping election district on the ballot.  This means voters have two or more chances to directly elect candidates of their own personal choosing.

That’s basically all there is to reducing the election failure rate, enabling larger proportions of voters to directly elect representatives of choice and strengthening representation connections to the people.  It’s that simple. 

Number of Legislative Assembly Members

The number of legislative assembly members elected from reformed and unreformed FPTP election systems is normally the same.  This means there’s generally no need to change the total number of representatives elected to legislatures.  Legislatures can have just about any number of elected representatives they want.

Three Overlapping Election Districts Election System

A three overlapping election districts election system for FPTP election method voters is shown below.

As shown above, the general election area is divided into three overlapping election tiers and seven overlapping election districts, which have common boundaries.  Tiers 1, 2 and 3 respectively have four, two and one overlapping election district (7 Representatives).

Districts A1, A2, A3 and A4 have smaller areas than districts B1 and B2, and district C1 is even larger.  For example, local first vote districts are on average about one-half as large as overlapping second vote districts.  Furthermore, they are on average about one-quarter as large as the overlapping third vote district.

Reformed FPTP Voting

Election Day voting is simple.  For example, voters residing in local district A1 cast their first vote for a candidate in local district A1.  Then they cast their second vote for a candidate in overlapping district of residence B1.  Lastly, they cast their third vote for a candidate in overlapping district of residence C1.  Also, voters residing in local districts A2, A3 and A4 cast votes in their local and overlapping districts of residence in similar fashion.  In effect, the overlapping districts of residence voting process enables voters to elect candidates of choice regardless of where they live within their allocated voting districts.

Overlapping Districts Strengthen Election Success Rate

Three election district chances to elect a candidate makes a big difference to the election results of voters.  Three overlapping election districts enable about 88% or more voters to personally succeed in electing chosen representatives.  Therefore, about 12% of voters fail to directly elect personally chosen candidates. 

So in comparison to the present FPTP model, the reformed FPTP model performs much better.  The reformed FPTP model ensures the election failure rate is reduced from about 50% of voters to about 12% of voters.  As a result, voters obtain a much stronger connection to representatives elected by the reformed FPTP model than they do from the present FPTP model.

In summary, the FPTP overlapping election districts election system is inherently better at enabling voters to win the right to representation than our current FPTP election system model is.  So why not reduce the election failure rate, and strengthen the election connection and legitimacy of representation by switching from our present FPTP model to the reformed FPTP model?  Voters turnout at the polls to directly elect candidates of choice, not just to vote and become statistical failures in their efforts to obtain the right to representation in the legislature from preferred candidates

Help Improve the Quality of our Political Representation

We can all take part in improving the quality of our political representation by strengthening the way the election process works.  So tell government leaders and your local representative, you can do better than your current FPTP election system by switching to a reformed FPTP election system that provides better representation of all the people.  Also inform others and if you want, write a letter to the editor.

Thanks.

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