Successful cumulative voting election in Peoria
While cumulative voting rights aren't the optimal way to get proportional election results (take a look at choice voting), the system continues to work well in Peoria. African-Americans have had fairly consistent Council representation since the system took root in 1991, and political newcomers have been able to win seats too.
The highlight of this election was 24 year-old Ryan Spain, whose grassroots campaign saw him win his first public office. I suspect cumulative voting had something to do with that, but we'd have to look at actual ballots to tell.
Cumulative voting also stood up to some criticism. Spain's election shows that, even if racially polarized voting no longer exists in town (beyond the scope of this post), the system has not outlived all possible relevance. And concerns that all winners would come from the same ward did not play out.
Peoria has used cumulative voting since 1991. In 1987, residents sued the city over its winner-take-all, at-large elections. Rather than switch to districts, both sides compromised on this semi-proportional, at-large remedy. There are ten Council seats. Five are elected in districts, and five are elected at-large.
NOTE: Peoria actually uses the "equal and even" cumulative system, which is distinct from "free" cumulative voting used in Texas, New Mexico and other places. With "equal and even," voters pick as many candidates as they want, and their five votes are divided equally among those candidates. With "free" cumulative, voters can allocate those five votes in any combination they choose.
Comments currently closed for Successful cumulative voting election in Peoria
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Posted by GOP Reports » Blog Archive » 2008 Vote - FairVote » Successful cumulative voting election in Peoria, 2008-01-10 06:04:05 (5 years ago)
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E&E CV is different from normal CV in that one doesn't plump unevenly. One votes for candidates, and each chosen candidate gets an equal share of the voter's votes. So if I tick off three candidates and I have five votes to cast, each of the three gets 1 2/3 votes. It's different from SNTV/limited voting in that the vote is not (does not have to be) single.
Posted by Jack, 2007-04-19 14:39:50 (6 years ago) -
I don't understand the note at the end of the post. If the votes are "divided equally among five candidates," how is this cumulative vote? I mean, where is the cumulation? If voters understand that they can cumulate, and have a clear preference for one candidate over others, they should cumulate. In that case, it is SNTV, and "concerns that all winners would come from the same ward" would be completely misplaced. SNTV overrepresents well organized minorities, which presumably would include voters of any subdistrict constituency that identified itself as such and was large enough to get about 1/5 of the district vote (or considerably less, if the vote is rather fragmented).
Posted by Matthew Shugart, 2007-04-19 12:33:50 (6 years ago)
[...] FairVote » Successful cumulative voting election in PeoriaSpain???s election shows that, even if racially polarized voting no cumulative voting used in Texas, New Mexico and other places. from SNTV/limited voting in that the vote [...]