LGC 1.2 - Amendment to the Lincoln Downballot Elections Act - Passed

[S019]

ok so I wrote this original bill and Ishan's amendment brought another idea to mind for me, I'd reword section 3 to the words "performing seat" instead of 50%+, as in many cases, notably Hispanics you need closer to 60% VAP for a performing seat. The earmuffs in Chicago is my favorite example of this since you need to connect two separate communities to get a performing seat, and just two 50% seats are going to elect white Democrats in the primary.

[S019]

I'd encourage members to object, as I believe that FPTP should be an option if there are a wide variety of options. 

One round FPTP in multi party systems is quite awful, as we've seen in the UK and also it made NPC campaigning very annoying. Two round FPTP (like in France), could work but only for gubernatorial elections.

[S019]

Also here's my amendment clarifying minority seats

Amendment to the Lincoln Downballot Elections Act


III. Redistricting


1. Redistricting shall consist of a commission of leaders from each party in the state legislature, as well as 5 citizens.
2. The commission must create a map that prioritizes one of these two goals: maximizing the competitiveness of districts or drawing districts proportional to partisanship
3. In areas where there is a high minority population, and it is possible to draw a seat where the voting age population of a minority coalition is greater than 50%, or where the voting age population of a specific minority group that seat must be drawn by the commission is high enough that it is possible to draw a seat where said group could elect its own candidate in both a primary and a general election, that seat must be drawn by the commission, even if said seat is not compact.
3a. Minority groups shall be defined as American Indian, Asians, Hispanics, and African-Americans.
4. In areas where it is possible to draw a seat as described in Section 3, Clause 1, but with a minority coalition or individual minority group population of above 40% of the voting age population, it is recommended that the commission draw that seat
5. For the purposes, of this act, the seats in Section 3 shall be known as Voting Rights Act seat (if it is a majority of a single minority) or a Minority Coalition seat (if they seat is formed by a majority of multiple minority groups)
6. For the purposes, of this act, the seats in Section 4 shall be known as Opportunity Seats
7. Redistricting shall occur every year as well as when necessitated by an election system change.
8. All districts drawn by state legislatures in Lincoln must be precleared by the Lincoln Regional Justice.

This amendment fixes the provisions so the seats actually perform, and also adds a provision of preclearance so that states aren't cheating on the minority seats.

[S019]

No, FPTP caters to major parties. Mostly because it results in nearly everyone refusing to vote for anyone outside of the two major parties. What you seem to be imagining is a system where  minor parties remain relevant even though the major parties almost always win, but in reality this doesn't really happen (The UK is the exception not the rule).

I mean I'd note in the UK, a party hasn't won with a majority in over 70 years (1935), in fact in 2019, the Remain bloc (Lab/LD/SNP) got 47.6% and the Leave bloc (Tory/BXP) got 45.64%, despite this, due to inefficient distribution of the Remain vote, the Leave bloc won a massive majority, and Brexit happened. So, even in the UK you don't really get minor parties remaining relevant (the SNP won most of their seats with majorities, and the Lib Dems haven't been relevant since the unpopularity of the 2010 coalition led to them crashing in 2015), but had the UK had proper PR, we very well could have had PM Corbyn arranging a second referendum, and maybe Remain would even win. Meanwhile, in our universe, Labour is still struggling on how to handle Brexit and seems kind of directionless, honestly. TL;DR FPTP is way worse with multi party systems than with two party ones (but it sucks with both)