Op-ed: Winning proportional representation: How the U.S. can follow New Zealand’s lead

Here is an excerpt from the article:

In our first article in this two-part series, we wrote about how 2023 is a special year for both of us: It’s the 30th anniversary of our wedding, of FairVote moving into its own offices, of Lani Guinier bringing proportional voting into the national consciousness, and of New Zealand completing a remarkable reform journey from winner-take-all voting to proportional representation. Now we turn to sharing our thoughts about how to translate New Zealand’s remarkable reform triumph to the very different realities of the United States.

It’s timely. Our national electoral rules are limited in offering the choices voters want to see, fluidly reflecting who we are as a people and creating incentives for tackling problems together rather than seeing every issue as a political weapon to get an edge. Despite heroic reform efforts, gerrymandering runs rampant and voters are increasingly stuck in hyperpartisan camps that result in relatively slight partisan advantages for one major party in a district becoming a nearly insurmountable obstacle to two-party competition, let alone giving independents and minor parties any chance.

We are excited by new energy for proportional representation (PR) – with major media and organizations like Fix Our House, More Equitable Democracy, and Protect Democracy joining the groups we’ve long led (FairVote and RepresentWomen) in making the case for changing winner-take-all elections. A major new poll on PR from Protect Democracy shows the conditions are right for Americans to have our “New Zealand moment” in the coming decade.

Read the full article here.