U.S. Rep. Don Beyers' proposed Fair Representation Act would move U.S. House elections from single-member to multimember districts. It's an essential step to help more voters feel represented by their member of Congress.
The problem is the mandate for states to adopt ranked-choice voting. If that's the only option, the effort is certain to bog down in technical complications and cost and transparency concerns.
Ranked choice voting has proved its utility in local elections. But serious implementation challenges arise when extending it across multiple autonomous jurisdictions with different voting equipment. Other fair representation methods accomplish the same objectives but are simple, easy to understand, and require no changes to voting equipment. Those include "open-ticket" voting, similar to what's used in Finland; and "mixed-member" district and at-large elections, as used in Germany, New Zealand and the regional parliaments of Scotland and Wales.
I was a founding member of FairVote, the organization that originated the fair representation proposal. I applaud Rep. Beyer's initiative but urge him to consider other options from FairVote that advance reform and fit seamlessly into existing election machinery.
Lee Mortimer
Durham, N.C.