The Fair Representation Act would transform California’s congressional map from 52 single-winner districts into 12 multi-winner districts. Voters would elect representatives using proportional ranked choice voting.
Gerrymandering would be nearly eliminated, every election would be competitive, and California voters would have far more power than they do today.
With more choices in the general election and proportional outcomes, the Fair Representation Act will create more opportunities for urban Republicans, rural Democrats, independents, women, and people of color.
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Improved Partisan Representation
Proportional ranked choice voting elects candidates from each party reflecting the political makeup of that region.
California’s statewide partisanship is 62% Democrat / 38% Republican. The Fair Representation Act would preserve the Democratic majority, but also award a fair number of seats to Republicans and most likely contain at least three districts with swing seats.
Better Racial Representation
The Fair Representation Act increases the number of districts where communities of color have the power to elect a candidate of their choice, as measured by their share of the citizen voting age population.
In a district with 5 representatives, any candidate earning at least 17% of the vote wins a seat. In a district with 3 representatives, any candidate earning over 25% of votes wins a seat. These thresholds create the opportunity for more groups to have a seat at the table, compared to single-winner districts where candidates need a majority or near-majority to win a seat.
With the Fair Representation Act, Latino voters are over the threshold to elect 12 seats, Asian American or Pacific Islander (AAPI) voters for 5, and Black voters for 1. This means these groups have greater deciding power to elect candidate of their choices than under the current system. For example, with single-member districts, AAPI voters have no sole power-to-elect a representative, despite making up 15% of the population. With the Fair Representation Act, AAPI voters could have deciding power over 5 seats, a number far more proportional relative to the population.
The “power-to-elect” threshold represents a floor for representation, not a ceiling: candidates of color are most likely to succeed in these districts, but may also be elected in other districts.
10 additional seats are “coalition seats,” or seats where no individual racial or ethnic group is over the threshold on its own. These seats provide opportunities for coalition-building candidates.
An End to Redistricting Difficulties
Under the Fair Representation Act, the ability to gerrymander would be drastically reduced. With fewer lines to draw and proportional representation in every district, the redistricting process becomes more fair and the possibility for gerrymandering is nearly eliminated.
In California, districts are drawn by an independent redistricting commission made up of Republicans, independents, and Democrats. While California avoids the partisan gerrymandering pitfalls on display in other states, California’s maps are still held back by the shortcomings of single-member districts.
More Competitive Elections
With larger geographic districts, it is harder to draw districts in ways that pack partisans together. What’s more, the Fair Representation Act’s criteria for district-drawing encourages fair partisan representation.
Eliminating “winner-take-all” rules will encourage both Republicans and Democrats to compete for votes in every district. Every multi-winner district in California would be likely to elect at least one member of each major party.
Even in districts where one or more seats are considered “safe” for one party, candidates from that party will be competing against other members of their party, creating healthy competition both within and between parties.
When elections are competitive, representatives are accountable to voters and have a greater incentive to champion policies that have broad support.
A More Expressive Ballot
In proportional ranked choice voting, voters have the option to rank candidates in order of preference: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so forth. Voters are free to express their honest preferences without fear of “spoiler candidates” or “wasted votes”.
Learn more here about how ranked choice in multi-winner districts improves our elections.
