Interactive representation is a proposed governance system in which elected officials have the same number of votes as the number of people who voted for them. It was proposed in Oregon in 1912 by William S. U'Ren and in Virginia in 2001 by Bill Redpath.

History

In 1912, the People's Power League, led by William S. U'Ren, proposed an amendment to the

Oregon Constitution The Oregon Constitution is the governing document of the U.S. state of Oregon, originally enacted in 1857. As amended the current state constitution contains eighteen sections, beginning with a bill of rights.

to allow each legislator to cast a number of votes equal to the number of votes he received in the last election. Under this scheme of "Government by Proxy," a legislator who received 25,000 votes would have had more voting power than two legislators who received 12,000 votes apiece. A majority of all the votes cast at the preceding election would have been required to pass a law. This proposal also would have allowed a voter to cast his vote anywhere in the state, allowing thinly spread parties to centralize their vote on one candidate. It also would have abolished the

Oregon Senate The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the state Sena ...

and placed the state's legislative power in a single assembly of sixty members serving four-year terms. The

Governor of Oregon The governor of Oregon is the head of government of Oregon and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. ter ...

and his defeated rivals would have been

ex officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, or council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by r ...

members of the Assembly and allowed to cast as many votes as his unsuccessful party candidates had received in the previous election. If a Socialist legislative candidate were defeated, for instance, then the votes of his supporters would have been cast in the Assembly by the Socialist candidate for Governor. The measure failed by a vote of 71,183 to 31,020. That same year, a similar measure was contained in a proposed new Portland charter called The Short Charter. Article 22 provided simply, "A majority of all the votes cast at the election and represented in the commission, as in this article provided, shall be necessary to pass any measure. Each member of the commission shall represent in the commission the voters who elected him; and in voting on any ordinance, resolution, charter amendment, or other roll-call in the commission, each member shall cast the number of votes for or against the same by which he was elected."

In culture

An interactive representation scheme was proposed in

Robert Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein ( ; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific acc ...

's ''

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress ''The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress'' is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein about a lunar colony's revolt against absentee rule from planet Earth. The novel illustrates and discusses libertarian ideals. It is respe ...

'':

References

{{reflist Political systems

History

In culture

See also

References