LIKE Jim Begley (Letters, July 23), I am “thankful that we can vote [and] would encourage more electors to do so and participate in the whole process”.

But there is a reason why they often do not: they know that in many constituencies vote can be swamped by the committed majority.

New Zealand has come up with a sensible and inexpensive solution to this problem (it makes a habit of doing so in many areas). When a Kiwi votes in an election for the House of Representatives, he or she casts two votes: one for the individual member and one for the party. About half of the seats are filled based on the first, constituency, votes.

The remainder are then allocated to bring the total representation into line with the party preference reflected in the second votes. (NZ allows an increase in the total number of representatives if necessary. That wrinkle would clearly not be possible here, and would probably raise problems in the UK, too).

The NZ approach would solve other problems, too, such as the dilemma of a committed Labour voter in Churchill’s constituency after the war who did not want to vote against Winston but believed in Labour’s policies.

Brian A. Jones, Brooklyn, New York.