Which One Of These Would You Choose To Put Into A Runoff Referendum Versus the Current US Senate System?

Question

50 = 1 per state (FPTP, IRV or round-robin)
& the other 50 = Your main options:
A - proportional representation election
B - chose all by lottery from the whole US 18+ population
C/D/E - chose by special interselection events, in which all who attend are candidates & voters with 10,9,8,... points each.
C - one event in each of the 50 biggest cities
D - one event for each of the 50 biggest professions + 1 for the rest
E - ten each chosen by whites, blacks, hispanics, native americans, all others
F - chose 50 by best school+uni+iq+special exam marks
G - ten 1-point votes each, the top 50 get in
H - 1 seat per top 15 Native American nation, 20 for other ethnicities, 15 for big states' 2nd seats or best losers
I - a special system in which Whites & Others vote among own AND each other's added up 50%+50% (encourages cooperation & appealing to both sides)
J - abolish second chamber altogether
K - a combination of systems, altered over time by having median % referenda

You can find out more about all these by going onto the electoral_systems yahoo group

Explanations:
FPTP = count only first-preference votes (like current system);

IRV = each time the lowest candidate is eliminated, reallocate voters according to their 'next higher preference after the gonner'.;

Round-robin = all go head-to-head A versus B, A versus C, A vs D, .... ballot may ask like IRV for you to choose a '1st', '2nd', 3rd...preference

A - proportional representation = 7% of votes gives a party 7% of the seats.

I - the special system in which Whites & Others vote among own AND each other's candidates: if you get 10% of white voters and 50% of Others, you got 30% overall - the top 50 white & 50 nonwhite candidates win seats (1 each per state).

K - combination of systems, altered over time by having median % referenda, in which if the system was split 20%-20%-20%-20%-20% between 2 system before the referendum & binning the highest & lowest 49.99% of votes leaves 10-50-10-0-20, then as the outcomes add up to 90, the new system would be 12-52-12-2-22.

Answer 1

I like the Senate the way it is now...two senators per state.

Answer 2

I like E. It has more racial equality, as long as it's not limited to the groups you suggested. However. It would be hard. I mean who would get to choose.

For example. Native people: Some Natives are enrolled and some are self-identifited. Do only enrolled Natives get to vote?
So, it gets kinda touchy. Does everyone in the U.S. vote but have to choose so many of each cultural group.

To be honest I really haven't looked into it and am not very educated on this issue. I just support more racial equality.

Answer 3

The current system has it's flaws, but all the alternatives are worse. The failure of the GOP Congress to provide adequate oversight of the incompetent Bush administration over the past 6 years is really just a symptom of the larger problem: a mis-informed populace that put the wrong people in power.

Answer 4

Go back to what it used to be, senators appointed by the house of represenatives for each state, 2 senators for each state.

Also, lawyers are barred from holding public office, including as state and federal senators.