A primer on party preferential voting

How a party- and candidate-centered approach to proportional representation could work for U.S. elections

Proportional representation has the potential to make American democracy more functional and representative.

Proportional representation (PR) is a class of electoral system designed to allocate seats in a legislature in proportion to the preferences expressed by voters, so that the overall makeup of the elected body closely reflects the distribution of votes among the electorate. PR has the potential to make American democracy more functional and representative. There are several forms of PR, such as closed or open list PR and proportional ranked choice voting (RCV).

Party preferential voting systems allow voters the choice to rank preferences for either parties or candidates.

What we call “party preferential voting” (PPV) is a system developed in Australia, there called “above the line” voting. Under PPV, parties are listed in one section on the ballot and individual candidates are listed in another. Voters can choose to rank parties or candidates. Like closed list PR, it simplifies choice for voters by organizing their options through parties. Like proportional RCV, it maintains an option for candidate-centered voting, allowing voters to express preferences for candidates both within and across parties.

The combination of advantages party preferential voting offers makes it a solution U.S. policymakers should know about.

As the push for PR in the U.S. grows, a better understanding of party preferential voting can assist policymakers and reformers as part of a menu of PR options. Technical and administrative questions remain about its implementation. Yet Australia’s experience suggests that party preferential voting may provide a distinct combination of advantages of various PR models being considered in the U.S.