It is used in Cambridge, Mass. It was used in about 2 dozen cities
in the
U.S., including New York City and Cleveland, in the early part of
the 20th
century, as part of the reform movement for good government during the
Progressive era. It was repealed in many cities because of anti-
communist
hysteria (in New York City, for example, one communist was elected
to a
council of 25 members), and in Cincinnati it was repealed in 1957
on the
basis of a racist fear campaign - they said that if we didn't get
rid of PR,
it was likely that Ted Berry (a Negro!) would become mayor of
Cincinnati in
the next election. PR was repealed, our current system not only
prevented
Berry from becoming mayor, he was not even elected to Council in
1957, and
no blacks were elected for the next 4 elections.
FairVote.org is the best website to learn more. It's a national
organization dedicated to educating people about proportional voting
systems. It was founded in Cincinnati in 1992 (it's now in the DC
area).
PR was on the ballot here in 1988 and 1991, and it got about 45% of
the vote
each time, in spite of vehement opposition by the Cincinnati Enquirer
(repeatedly claiming - falsely, in my opinion - that PR is too
complicated
and it takes too long to count the votes). Cambridge has a
computerized
vote count and it's done in minutes. People who can count from one
to nine
have no difficulty ranking their choices, and the system automatically
provides a representative body which is a microcosm of the
electorate - fair
representation for majorities and minorities.
Thanks for considering it.
Dan Zavon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Sund / Mac.com" <cinticom@xxxxxxx>
To: <cinci_dads@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 11:37 AM
Subject: [cinci_dads] Re: Proportional Representation petition
campaign
Dan - interesting - is this used anywhere else? Or where else can I
read about it?
Mark Sund
cinticom@xxxxxxx
On Jul 21, 2008, at 12:59 PM, Dan wrote:
I'm working on a petition campaign to bring Proportional
Representation back to Cincinnati. That's the way Cincinnati
elected its City Council for 30 years (1920s to 1950s), and it
brought consistent minority representation to the council even when
African Americans were a much smaller percentage of the population
than they are today. It gives us majority rule AND minority
representation. You rank your choices from 1 up to as many as 9,
and your vote counts for your first choice, unless that candidate
can't use it (either because s/he already has enough votes to be
elected, or because s/he has so few votes s/he can't possibly be
elected), in which case your vote counts for your second choice (or
your highest choice who can still use your vote).
To show what is wrong with our current voting system (9x), I use
the example of an election in which 44,000 Democrats vote, along
with 33,000 Republicans and 22,000 Charterites. If all three
parties put up a full slate of 9 candidates, and all voters vote a
straight party ticket for their party, the result under the current
9x system of voting would be 9 Democrats elected to City Council,
even though a majority of voters (five ninths) wanted no
Democrats. This is not majority rule OR minority representation.
Under Proportional Representation, the result (with the same voters
voting the same way) would be a council with 4 Democrats, 3
Republicans, and 2 Charterites. PR gives fair representation to
all substantial groups in the voting population, whether they be
racial, issue, gender, neighborhood, or whatever is important to
the voters in the election.
To put this issue on the ballot, we need 6100 valid signatures of
registered voters who live in the city limits of Cincinnati. We
really need some more people to pass petitions. Even if you can
get only 10 or 20 signatures, that would be very much appreciated.
If you are interested, or need more information, please call Josh
Krekeler at 513-368-4062, or email him at
betterballotleague@xxxxxxxxx
Please pass the word. Thanks.
Dan Zavon
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