Uncompetitive and Unrepresented: Voters Locked Out of Representation

Safe districts are the electoral districts which are regarded as “secure” for a certain political party or candidate to win. In a winner-take-all system, the votes of people who have a mix of political viewpoints or prefer a different political party are insufficient to elect anyone. Thus, single-winner districts can never adequately represent the diversity of thought and experience living in all geographic regions of the United States, because it is impossible for one representative to adequately represent multiple viewpoints. This report proposes an alternative to single-winner districts. Under a proportional system, like the Fair Representation Act, larger regions of states would send three, four, or five members to the House of Representatives. With ranked choice voting, each of those members would be elected by a distinct group of voters, such that nearly every vote would be effective in helping elect winners.