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4 comments

1 Dark_Falcon  Wed, Oct 10, 2012 3:50:53pm

I'd like to know what their argument is. I don't find an at-large system to be discriminatory in-and-of-itself.

2 wrenchwench  Wed, Oct 10, 2012 3:58:22pm

re: #1 Dark_Falcon

I'd like to know what their argument is. I don't find an at-large system to be discriminatory in-and-of-itself.

Look at the results (by clicking through and reading a tiny bit more). Then look at the Voting Rights Act.

Section 2 contains a general prohibition on voting discrimination, enforced through federal district court litigation. Congress amended this section in 1982, prohibiting any voting practice or procedure that has a discriminatory result. The 1982 amendment provided that proof of intentional discrimination is not required.

It's not necessary to show intent, but I'm sure they knew what the result would be when they set up the system.

3 Tiny Alien Kitties are Watching You  Wed, Oct 10, 2012 4:46:15pm

In an at-large system 50% of the vote controls 100% of the seats won. This often has a discriminatory effect on minorities where minority and majority voters consistently prefer different candidates. On the surface of it that would certainly seem to be the case here...

4 lostlakehiker  Wed, Oct 10, 2012 6:43:42pm

re: #1 Dark_Falcon

I'd like to know what their argument is. I don't find an at-large system to be discriminatory in-and-of-itself.

The shoe will be on the other foot by and by. The mayor has a point. It's best if voting systems give everybody a voice, not just a "vote". Best if the societal unit (city, state, nation) works toward some sort of consensus. Sooner or later, there will be situations where there's nothing for it but to vote it out, but at-large voting tends to make for more of those.

But there are complexities in setting up districts. Again, with the same logic, the districts should not be gerrymandered to create solid minority districts, or solid majority districts. Let at least some of the districts be roughly half and half. That way, the winning candidate will be the man or woman who can find some common ground with both groups, help them find their own common ground and work toward the common good. One way to write rules that will ensure some such districts would be to draw the boundaries according to a simple rule that the districts must be as geographically compact as possible. Another possibility would be to just draw parallel North-South lines and adjust them east or west until between each two lines there were the same number of people according to the census.


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