it’s distinct from ranked-choice voting, although variations of ranked-choice voting, like single-transferable vote, can implement a form of it. basic ranked-choice voting is for single-winner elections. 1/

though there are lots of variations, in proportional representation you are trying to elect something like a legislature or parliament, and the idea is you make sure the number of seats that go to each political party is consistent with the proportion of people who voted for that party. 2/

our system is not at all like this. suppose a state had 51% Republicans / 49% Democrats. if the two groups were evenly dispersed across all districts, Republicans would win every seat despite having only half the vote. /fin