Indirect Democracy

Let your voice be heard.

A better way to vote, so the candidate you actually want has a real chance.

The problem

You probably voted against someone, not for someone.

The last time you voted, you may have picked a candidate because the other one scared you more. Or you saw a name on the ballot that you actually liked, and walked past it because supporting them would have thrown the race to the person you liked least.

Most of us have done it. It's not random. It's what the current rules of voting push us toward.

The problem is the spoiler effect.

When only one candidate can win a seat, any vote for someone who trails can hand victory to the candidate you oppose. Voting for the person you prefer becomes a vote against the person closest to you. So you learn not to do it.

Do this election after election and something quietly happens. Voters settle into one of two parties. Candidates figure out that tearing down the other side works better than building themselves up. The choice you were supposed to have disappears.

A bar chart of five candidates. The red candidate is crowned winner with 38 percent of the vote, more than anyone else, but less than half. 38% 34% 12% 9% 7% A B C D E

Indirect Democracy changes the rule that causes it.

The spoiler effect exists because only one candidate can win. Indirect Democracy fixes that directly. Every candidate who clears a small share of the vote wins a seat. Once seated, their voice in the legislature is weighted by the number of people who elected them. Twice the votes, twice the voice.

So you vote for the person you actually want. If enough people agree, that person represents you. If not, your preference still counts in the totals, and the winners who did get in carry proportionally more voice for the rest of us. Nobody wastes a vote. Nobody spoils a race.

The same five candidates under Indirect Democracy. Four candidates sit above a threshold line and are all crowned. The smallest one, below the line, is not. threshold 28% 24% 21% 18% 9% A B C D E

What that gets you.

  • You can vote for the people you actually like, even when they run as independents.
  • Third parties and outsiders can win seats without splitting their own side.
  • Primaries stop mattering, because there is no need to consolidate around one nominee.
  • Politicians grow their power by delivering for more voters, not by attacking the other side.

Let your voice be heard.

If the idea makes sense, read the full case. If it still makes sense after that, tell someone.

Read the full case