Examining better government representation

Mason County is in one of 46 of the 49 of Washington's legislative districts represented either by three Republicans or three Democrats.

In that system, "almost half of the voters have no real representation," Kit Muehlman of the League of Women Voters of Whatcom County on Tuesday told members of the League of Women Voters of Mason County in the Olympic College Shelton library meeting room. Also, there are "no third-party representatives in any district," she added.

Establishing proportional voting methods to establish multimember districts would change that, Muehlman said.

In a multiwinner election to a body, including a city council, a county commission or a legislative district, "majority rules with minority representation," said Kristen Rooks of the League of Women Voters of King County. She added that "to achieve proportional representation you need a multi-member district."

Rooks explained that in a single-winner election, the largest bloc gets 100%, the winner takes all and it's not proportional. A multi-winner election produces proportional representation, where representatives are elected in proportion to their support and each group of a certain size can elect someone.

Washington counties usually are within an eight-point difference when it comes to party preference, Rooks said. "Even in a hard red county, you have a decent slice of blue population," she said.

In 2000, the League of Women Voters wrote that it "supports adoption of election methods that produce proportional representation when electing representative government bodies such as councils, legislatures and Congress."

Members of the Mason County group were encouraged to take a look at proposed House Bill 1448, designed to increase representation and voter participation in local elections, and then craft a recommendation. The bill was first read Tuesday before the Legislature and was referred to the Committee on State Government and Tribal Relations.

The United States has a history of multimember districts, as shown by a PowerPoint presentation.

From 1915 to 1957, five cities in Ohio elected its council members by proportional representation: Toledo, Ashtabula, Cleveland, Hamilton and Cincinnati. The New York City Council members were also elected through proportional representation from 1937 to 1947. During that time, residents elected the city's first Black mayor, Adam Clayton Powell.

In 2023, the Washington Supreme Court in the case Portugal versus Franklin County ruled jurisdictions can adopt proportional voting methods to comply with the Washington Voting Rights Act.

In 2022, Portland, Oregon, residents voted to change to multimember districts. Of the 12 members elected to the four districts, six are women and seven are people of color.

Chris Mason of the League of Women Voters of Mason County said that under proportional representation, "the people who get elected get more support from more people." Locally, the Mason County Commission or Shelton City Council could adopt such a system, or put it before the voters, he said.