What would our elections look like if more voters could elect representatives who reflected their political views? What would change if the number of seats won in an election more closely reflected the votes people cast?
These questions are at the heart of proportional representation, an approach to elections that offers a different way of translating votes into political representation.
A recent opinion piece in Ebony by Karundi Williams, Executive Director of re:power, asks a related question: Are we organizing to save the democracy we have, or to build the democracy we actually need?
Her article invites readers to examine the familiar structures of American elections and consider how different electoral systems affect who has political power, whose voices are represented, and how communities participate in decisions that affect their lives.
What Is Proportional Representation?
Most legislative elections in the United States operate under a winner-take-all system. Each district elects one representative, and the candidate with the most votes wins. Voters who supported other candidates do not elect a representative of their choice from that district.
As Protect Democracy explains in its overview of proportional representation, these systems elect multiple representatives in proportion to the votes they receive, offering a different approach from the single-member, winner-take-all elections used for most legislative offices in the United States.
For example, imagine a district electing five representatives. Under a proportional system, a political party receiving 40% of the vote could win approximately two of those five seats, depending on the rules used.
Proportional representation is a family of electoral systems, and the details matter.
Different approaches include list proportional representation, where seats are allocated based on votes for political parties; the Single Transferable Vote, where voters rank individual candidates; and mixed-member proportional systems, which combine district-based elections with additional seats allocated to produce a more proportional result.
The number of representatives elected, how votes are counted, and whether a system sets a minimum vote threshold for winning seats can all affect the outcome.
Proportional representation is the most common electoral system among the world’s democracies, while most U.S. legislative elections continue to use single-member districts.
How Does Ranked Choice Voting Fit In?
Ranked choice voting is often discussed alongside proportional representation, and understanding the different forms of ranked choice voting is important.
With single-winner ranked choice voting, voters rank candidates in order of preference, and the counting process determines one winner. If no candidate initially receives a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and those votes are transferred according to voters’ next preferences. The process continues until a candidate receives a majority of the continuing votes.
Proportional ranked choice voting, also called the Single Transferable Vote, uses ranked ballots to elect multiple representatives. Candidates are elected when they reach a required share of the vote, and votes may transfer to other candidates according to voters’ rankings until the seats are filled.
Both methods allow voters to rank candidates, but they use different counting procedures and elect different numbers of representatives.
FairVote’s explanation of proportional ranked choice voting illustrates how ranked ballots can be used to elect multiple representatives and how that process differs from single-winner ranked choice voting.
Understanding these distinctions helps clarify how different systems translate votes into seats and what those differences could mean for political representation.
Looking Beyond the Electoral Systems We Know
In her Ebony opinion piece, Karundi Williams of re challenges readers to think about the structures of American democracy that are often treated as permanent.
She raises questions about a political system that has historically excluded Black Americans and other communities from equal participation, and whether protecting existing institutions is enough.
Williams discusses traveling to Ireland with More Equitable Democracy and learning about its proportional representation system, where voters rank candidates in districts that elect multiple representatives.
Ireland’s system offers one example of how elections can be structured differently from the single-member, winner-take-all model familiar to most American voters.
Her larger argument also concerns organizing and governing between elections, including developing leaders, holding elected officials accountable, and building the ability of communities to influence public decisions.
Williams asks readers to consider what different democratic structures could make possible and how communities can participate in shaping them.
What Could Proportional Representation Mean for Black Communities?
An important part of examining electoral systems is understanding how they affect communities whose political representation has historically been limited.
In winner-take-all elections, the geographic distribution of voters can substantially affect their ability to elect candidates of their choice. When voters with shared political preferences are spread across several districts, they may have difficulty electing a candidate even when they represent a significant share of the broader population.
Proportional systems can offer different opportunities for groups of voters to elect candidates they support, but the effects depend on the particular system and how it is implemented.
Questions about Black political representation are especially important in this discussion.
Could a proposed electoral system strengthen Black voters’ ability to elect candidates of their choice? How would district size, electoral thresholds, and voting rules affect that ability? What safeguards would protect communities against vote dilution?
There are also questions about accessibility, voter education, and accountability. How would voters learn to use a different ballot? What resources would be needed to make participation accessible? How would elected representatives remain accountable to the communities they serve?
These considerations matter when evaluating the possible effects of changes to electoral systems.
VAAC’s Community Conversation on Proportional Representation
Voting Access For All Coalition has already begun examining these questions through our Friday Community Meetings.
On September 25, VAAC welcomed Kim Murphy-Kovalick, Senior Director of Policy and Programs at Voters Not Politicians, as our featured guest for a meeting focused on proportional representation, how it works, and what different approaches could mean for political representation.
The meeting was designed to help community members understand how electoral systems shape who gets represented, how votes translate into seats, and what different models could mean for Black communities, system-involved individuals, communities of color, and others who have historically had less political representation.
The agenda included multi-member districts, list proportional representation, the Single Transferable Vote, mixed-member proportional systems, electoral thresholds, and district size.
It also raised questions about the relationship between voters, representatives, and political parties, including how different systems might affect political competition, coalition building, and the ability of communities to elect candidates who reflect their interests.
These questions connect directly to the issues raised in Williams’ Ebony commentary and provide a basis for continued community education and discussion.
Political Representation and Civic Power
Voting Access For All Coalition builds lasting civic power by uplifting people impacted by incarceration, poverty, housing instability, and systemic exclusion to engage in civic life and influence public policy.
Through civic education, voter registration, jail voting initiatives, community outreach, and leadership development, VAAC works to expand participation among people who have faced barriers to voting and political decision-making.
How votes translate into representation is also an important part of understanding civic power.
For communities affected by incarceration, poverty, and systemic exclusion, examining electoral systems raises questions about representation in the institutions responsible for making laws and public policy.
Those questions include how different systems affect voters’ ability to elect candidates of their choice, participate in political coalitions, and hold elected officials accountable.
No electoral system automatically removes barriers to participation or guarantees representation for every community. Understanding the different approaches, their potential effects, and their limitations is essential to evaluating proposals for change.
Continuing the Conversation
Karundi Williams’ Ebony article and VAAC’s September community meeting offer opportunities to examine how our electoral systems work and what different approaches to representation could mean for communities across Michigan.
For readers interested in seeing how different electoral systems work in practice, More Equitable Democracy’s resource library brings together videos, research, and educational materials about proportional representation and ranked choice voting.
The library includes a short documentary about Eastpointe, Michigan, where the city adopted multi-winner ranked choice voting for city council elections following a federal Voting Rights Act case.
Eastpointe provides a Michigan example for examining how changes to electoral systems relate to questions about representation and the ability of communities to elect candidates of their choice.
These examples and resources can help community members better understand the choices built into our electoral systems and the questions involved in evaluating different approaches.
Understanding how representatives are elected, how votes translate into seats, and how different systems affect communities is an important part of civic education.
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