All Europeans now know that DeKalb County exists, AND that it’s pronounced de-cab, so why don’t they know as much about European politics as they do about American? Because we have a better electoral system.
Of course, the US is big, and important, and the elections are huge news events – BUT part of the problem with American elections is that first past the post (winner takes all) elections create lots of narrow finishes and high drama – at the cost of millions of wasted votes.
The reason that we know about @ItsInDeKalb is that the US electoral system makes swing counties in swing states hugely important. I guarantee that you will never hear @TehamaCountyED get the same focus – because it’s in California.
But in the same way you will never hear about Łomża county (pronounced WOM-zha) holding the balance of power in the European Parliament – because it never will. Proportional representation means that a few votes in Łomża don’t turn the scale more than a few votes in Warsaw.
That’s bad for the tourism service of @umlomza, but good for European governance, and for European voters. Quick, proportional elections mean votes count more equally. They make for good politics, but bad political theatre (and no days of sitting in front of Euronews).
Originally posted as a thread of 5 tweets on Twitter on 7 November 2020. View the original thread.
