| Sumario: | Part of a special issue on the prospect of creating a new democracy for a new century. The writer discusses the use of proportional representation (PR) election systems in the U.S. The underlying principle of PR is the belief that groups of like-minded voters should win seats in legislative assemblies in proportion to their share of the popular vote. Among the many advantages of PR in relation to winner-take-all election systems, two are crucial: PR systems tend to make elected bodies more truly representative of community diversity, and they encourage voter participation by offering a better variety of choices on election day. The writer discusses the three proportional systems already in use in the U.S. in local elections—limited voting, cumulative voting, and choice voting.
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