Choice Voting is a form of proportional representation (PR) that is widely used by the world's established democracies. Under choice voting, representatives are elected from multi-seat districts in proportion to the number of votes received. Choice voting also assures that political parties or candidates will gain the percentage of legislative seats that reflects their public support.
On June 8th, the Village of Port Chester (NY) started early voting in New York's first-ever election with cumulative voting and first with in-person early voting. All six trustees on Port Chester's governing body will be elected, with Election Day on June 15. FairVote has supervised the Village's ambitious bi-lingual voter education campaign.
Cumulative voting allows voters the freedom to distribute their votes as they please. Those giving more than one vote to a favorite candidate increase that candidate's chances to win. This historic change comes as a result of a court ruling declaring the village to be in violation of Section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act. Other jurisdictions using cumulative voting in other states include Amarillo (TX), Chilton Count (A), Peoria (IL).
Port Chester Votes Website
Television coverage of 1st day of voting
News coverage in Lower Hudson Valley News: June 9 and June 8
Commentary by Martha Lopez of Port Chester Votes
Cumulative voting in Amarillo
Choice voting is a proportional voting system where voters maximize the effectiveness of their vote by ranking candidates in multi-seat constituencies.
FairVote's Pauline Lejeune responds to an article about the March 7th Iraqi Parliamentary elections.
Port Chester will use an at-large cumulative voting system to elect its trustees in 2010: “I think that all parties worked very well and very hard together to come up with a novel approach to a cumulative voting program,” said Randolph McLaughlin . . . a Pace University Law School professor. “The voter education program we put together is a model for the rest of the country.”
"How Does an "Election" within an Unrecognized State SIgnificantly Affect the International Community?"
