The ProRep Coalition, a multi-organizational nonprofit, has formed to promote a California ballot initiative for the 2026 general election that would establish proportional representation in legislative elections. Peace and Freedom Party is a founding member of the coalition along with the Green Party and several organizations currently without ballot status. More parties and organizations are expected to join soon.
The legislature is presently elected from single-member districts, with the highest vote-getter being elected. Under proportional representation – though it can come in many forms –California would have fewer districts, each with multiple members. For example, in a ten-member district, a party could elect one member with as little as 8% or 9% of the vote. A party with 51% of the vote would get five members from a ten-member district, instead of all the representation. *Various* points of view, not just two, would be represented in the legislature.
This is the widely accepted international standard for democratic elections, but the big-money forces in our country resist it strongly. They see no need to share power with any rivals, which is why the plan is highly unlikely to be adopted by any legislature. This is why ProRep will be turning directly to the voters with an initiative petition campaign.
A convention is in the works for 2024 to settle the details of the initiative. Not just members of smaller parties support this idea, but many Democrats and Republicans who live in areas where their own side cannot win representation under a winner-take-all system. The Peace and Freedom Party has advocated for proportional representation for more than forty years, and welcomes the efforts of the ProRep Coalition.
–written by C.T. Weber and Kevin Akin
Get your voice heard in Election 2024 – vote Peace & Freedom and the Left Unity Slate!
