Fair Representation Voting in the United States

Fair Representation Voting in the United States

Fair voting systems have a long history of use in a variety of elections throughout the United States at the state, county, and city levels. Illinois elected its House of Representatives by fair representation voting for over one hundred years, and cities across the United States use methods such as cumulative voting or limited voting to elect their City Councils. 

Well over one hundred U.S. cities and counties use some form of fair representation voting today to elect their boards of supervisors, city councils, school boards, or other elected offices.

Here are some of the cities with the most robust use of fair representation voting methods:

Most of these uses were implemented in response to lawsuits brought under the Voting Rights Act. FairVote produces a booklet describing how fair representation voting can remedy vote dilution claims and under what circumstances they should be used.

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Fair Representation and the Voting Rights Act

The Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended in 1982, prohibits the use of election systems which dilute the effectiveness of racial minority votes. Winner-take-all election schemes, whether at-large or by district, may dilute the votes of minorities, including racial minorities. Fair representation voting has been used to resolve many cases brought against small jurisdictions under the Voting Rights Act. Here are some resources regarding the intersection of proportional representation and the voting rights of racial minorities:

Fair Representation in Illinois: 1870–1980

Following the civil war, Illinois suffered from severe partisan polarization between the Republican-controlled northern half of the state (including Chicago) and the Democrat-controlled south. Like partisan polarization today, this trend resulted in most legislative districts in Illinois being strongly Democratic or strongly Republican, utterly excluding moderates and members of the minority party from every district's representation.

To resolve the problem, Illinois adopted a fair representation voting method in 1870, electing its house of representatives three-seat districts using cumulative voting. Illinois repealed the system in 1980, through a poorly publicized amendment on the ballot known as the 'Cutback Amendment' because it reduced the size of the Illinois house.

Since then, there have been a number of calls for a return to fair representation voting in Illinois, including a bill introduced by Barack Obama when he was a state senator in 2001. That same year a commission convened to study fair representation voting in Illinois concluded that the system offered greater choice for voters, provided candidates easier access to the electoral system, provided better mixed representation by party, and more. To learn more about proportional representation in Illinois, see our Spotlight: Illinois page.

Ranked Choice Voting for City Councils at the Turn of the Century

The first U.S. city to adopt at-large ranked choice voting for its city council was Ashtabula, Ohio in 1915. During the first half of the 20th century, ranked choice voting spread rapidly as part of the progressive movement. At its peak, some two-dozen cities adopted it, including Cincinatti, Cleveland, Boulder, Sacramento, and even New York City. New York City continued to use ranked choice voting for its school board until 2002 when those school boards were abolished.

As the progressive era transitioned into a period characterized by racial tensions and fear of communism, at-large ranked choice voting became a victim of its own success. In Cincinnati, ranked choice voting enabled the election of two African American city council members into the 1950's. In 1951, African American attorney Theodore M. Berry won with the highest percent of the vote, which ordinarily would result in him becoming mayor. Instead, the city council chose one of the white councilmen to become mayor. Finally, Cincinnati repealed ranked choice voting in 1957 in the fifth Republican-led repeal attempt. Following civil unrest stemming from racial tensions in the 1960's, the Kerner Commission cited the repeal of ranked choice voting and its effect on African American representation as one cause of the city's violence.

Similarly, in New York City, ranked choice voting cut off the stranglehold previously held by the Democratic Party in the city. In the last election before adoption of choice voting, Democrats won 99.5% of the seats on the Board of Alderman with only 66.5% of the vote. Under ranked choice voting in 1941, Democrats won 65.5% of the seats with 64% of the vote, a much fairer result. However, ranked choice voting enabled representation of minor parties, including members of the Communist Party. During the Cold War, the Democratic Party took advantage of fears of communism to make a successful push for repeal of ranked choice voting. That repeal successfully prevented the election of communists to the city council, along with members of all other minor parties, but it also brought back an era of unrepresentative elections to New York City.

A Fair Representation Voting Plan for the California State Assembly

While much of the current dissatisfaction with American politics stems from the effects of winner-take-all congressional elections, similar problems exist in the states. Fortunately, fair representation voting systems can improve elections at all levels of government.

Our fair representation voting plan for the California State Assembly would reshape the state's politics by combining assembly districts into multi-seat "super districts," similar to those proposed in Monopoly Politics for the election of the U.S. House. The adoption of such a system would give California voters more choices, more competitive elections, and help promote fair representation of political and ethnic minorities.

  • A plan overview is available here.
  • A comparison of current and proposed districts can be found here.
  • As an example, analysis of a hypothetical Bay-Area super district and its impact on Assembly elections is available here.
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