America’s outmoded system of electing Congress means that representatives only represent part of their districts.
The solution is to adopt the electoral system where every voter’s voice is heard: multi-member districts with proportional representation.
WASHINGTON, DC – Following last night’s primary elections in Florida and New York, Fix Our House released the following statement:
“Florida and New York are prime examples of the problems with single-member districts,” said Fix Our House spokesperson Dustin Wahl. “The idea that a single person can represent an entire district is outdated and harmful to democracy. We need reforms like proportional representation and multi-member districts to break out of the doom loop that is threatening our democracy and to give voice to the millions of Americans who are voiceless in the current system.”
In Florida, a close swing state where Biden carried 48% in 2020 despite losing to Trump’s 51%, the new congressional map was gerrymandered to make two thirds of its districts safe for Republicans. That of course makes it easier for extremists to get elected, because they only need to win a plurality in a primary to pole vault their way into Congress. While the most radical candidate Laura Loomer lost, her contest was close – a few thousand switched votes would have sent the conspiracy theorist to Washington. And 2020 election deniers like Cory Mills, Anna Paulina Luna, and others won primaries in freshly gerrymandered seats that make it likely they’ll win in the fall.
Similarly, New York’s dysfunctional redistricting process forced incumbents into primaries with each other and created confusing changes and delays for voters. New York’s map splits up communities, makes most districts completely uncompetitive, and still gives Democrats a disproportionate advantage.
A system that allows pluralities of voters to choose a representative for the entire district is fundamentally broken. If the United States joined the majority of advanced democracies in adopting proportional representation with multi-member districts, Florida and New York would send delegations to Washington that actually represent their communities. Gerrymandering would become pointless, every general election would be competitive, and the most extreme voices would no longer rise to the top simply because they are competing in a district that’s safe for their party.
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