Half of the seats in the legislature are filled from single-member districts, as they are here, preserving some local geographical representation. The other half are filled by a party list vote, as a percentage of the vote received by each party. These seats are compensatory, correcting for disproportionate representation from the single-member district races. For example, if Democratic Party candidates for a legislative body received fifty percent of the popular vote, but only won forty percent of the district seats, the difference would be made up by adding on representatives from their party list. Overall representation would reflect the true level of support for each party, thus nullifying the effects of gerrymandering.
Proportional representation makes every vote count, regardless of where one lives.
MMPR would be a good voting system for legislative races in the United States. By adopting such a system for both houses of the Colorado General Assembly, we could create a state legislature which better reflects the will of the voters. We could enact proportional representation for state and local elections through citizen initiatives or referred measures. Some types of PR reform could also be adopted at the state level for Congressional and presidential elections without federal action. Other changes would require Congressional legislation, court challenges, or an amendment to the US Constitution.