Why we Need More Parties

There's Accountability in Competition
With better competition, small parties can offer voters more options to hold the government accountable. With more options we have a tool to say to whoever's in charge "if you can't figure it out and do your job, there's somebody else who will."

More Effective Representation

With better competition, small parties can offer us better chances of finding someone we can look at and say "That's the person I want to represent me. My views, my perspective, my values. That's who I want representing me in the decision-making process."

Why There's Only Two Parties

We vote for candidates based on who we think is the best for the job. But we also understand not everyone has a fair shot.

It's a familiar story... a favorite candidate doesn't really have a chance of winning, so you vote for one of the major candidates you don't like as much BUT they're from a big party, so they actually have a chance of beating that other guy you really don't like.

We're forced into a lesser of two evils situation, and there's only room for the two big parties with their big resources. As a result, everything goes to the two big parties and our California State Assembly looks something like this:

Districts of the California State Assembly

Seats in the California State Assembly

Everything is red and blue, Republican or Democrat.

What We Change

----Party Vote

First, a Party Vote:

To supplement the candidate vote, we add a party vote to the ballot.

With our Candidate Vote, we decide who we want to represent our local legislative district.

Add a party vote.

With our Party Vote, we decide which party's policies we'd like to see advanced in the legislature.

----New Seats

Next, New Seats: we add new seats to the Assembly

New

Seats

New seats will be 1/4 of the total number, and paid out to parties according to their share of votes.

----Distribute

Finally, Distribute:

we pay out seats according to votes

When all the party votes are counted up, the extra seats in the Assembly are distributed to the parties in such a way that the percentage of seats each party has in the legislature matches the percentage of votes they got on the ballot.

So if a party gets 10% of the votes on the ballot, it gets 10% of the seats in the legislature.

10% of the votes 10% of the seats

55% of the votes 55% of the seats.

37% of the votes 37% of the seats, etc. etc.

Any party that gets a minimum 5% of the votes has earned a spot in the legislature.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Parties are required to list candidates for these seats ahead of election day.

----Example

Example

Let's say when all the party votes are counted up, this is what the parties get....

Democratic Party - 42%

Republican Party - 36%

Libertarian Party - 14%

Green Party - 8%

With the votes counted, we use the extra seats to make sure the percentage of seats in the Assembly matches the percentage of votes on the ballot.

New

Seats

42%

36%

Republican

Democratic

14%

Libertarian

Green

And just like that, small parties have a foot in the door and can start competing with the big guys.

How We Get It Done

How We Get It Done - the Initiative Process

We'll use California's initiative process: with enough petition signatures, a proposition gets on the ballot. If 50% vote yes, the proposition becomes law.

But if people don't understand it, they won't vote for it. So first things first, we have to get the word out and build support.

California Reformation Coalition

"The most important decision in a democracy is how and by whom the decisions are made."

Why we Need More Parties

There's Accountability in Competition
With better competition, small parties can offer voters more options to hold the government accountable. With more options we have a tool to say to whoever's in charge "if you can't figure it out and do your job, there's somebody else who will."

More Effective Representation

With better competition, small parties can offer us better chances of finding someone we can look at and say "That's the person I want to represent me. My views, my perspective, my values. That's who I want representing me in the decision-making process."

Why There's Only Two Parties

We vote for candidates based on who we think is the best for the job. But we also understand not everyone has a fair shot.

Everything is red and blue, Republican or Democrat.

What We Change

How We Get It Done - the Initiative Process

We'll use California's initiative process: with enough petition signatures, a proposition gets on the ballot. If 50% vote yes, the proposition becomes law.

But if people don't understand it, they won't vote for it. So first things first, we have to get the word out and build support.

Why we Need More Parties

There's Accountability in Competition With better competition, small parties can offer voters more options to hold the government accountable. With more options we have a tool to say to whoever's in charge "if you can't figure it out and do your job, there's somebody else who will."

More Effective Representation

With better competition, small parties can offer us better chances of finding someone we can look at and say "That's the person I want to represent me. My views, my perspective, my values. That's who I want representing me in the decision-making process."

Why There's Only Two Parties

We vote for candidates based on who we think is the best for the job. But we also understand not everyone has a fair shot.

Everything is red and blue, Republican or Democrat.

What We Change

How We Get It Done - the Initiative Process

We'll use California's initiative process: with enough petition signatures, a proposition gets on the ballot. If 50% vote yes, the proposition becomes law. But if people don't understand it, they won't vote for it. So first things first, we have to get the word out and build support.

There's Accountability in Competition
With better competition, small parties can offer voters more options to hold the government accountable. With more options we have a tool to say to whoever's in charge "if you can't figure it out and do your job, there's somebody else who will."

We'll use California's initiative process: with enough petition signatures, a proposition gets on the ballot. If 50% vote yes, the proposition becomes law.

But if people don't understand it, they won't vote for it. So first things first, we have to get the word out and build support.