[EL] Lopsided defeat for single-member districts in Amarillo -- end of this system's viability in the US?

[Doug Hess]

It is worth keeping in mind that a loss at the ballot box doesn't mean
you have lost the issue. Some groups in the 1990s (maybe also 1980s)
fought to convert at-large systems to by-district systems and lost,
but were able to turn the organization they built and support they did
get into pressure to win somewhat different reforms on the same issue
later.

Doug Hess
202-277-6400 (cell)

The information contained in this email is confidential and may
contain proprietary information. It is meant solely for the intended
recipient(s). Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorized. If
you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying,
distribution or any action taken or omitted in reliance on this is
prohibited and may be unlawful.



On Tue, May 17, 2011 at 7:47 AM, Leslie Graves
<leslie.graves at ballotpedia.org> wrote:
> In California last year, several cities voted on local ballot measures on
> this subject.
>
> * Madera's electorate voted to switch from at-large to by-district.
> * Menifee's electorate, offered the option to switch to at-large, voted to
> stay with by-district
> * Sanger's electorate voted to have by-district elections of city council
> members.
> * Eastvale's voters chose at-large over by-district.
> * In the Capistrano Unified School District, voters approved a change from a
> system of by-district (voted on at-large) to by-district (voted on only by
> voters in the relevant district).
>
> Here are links to articles about those elections for further background:
>
> http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/By-District_Election_of_Madera_City_Council_Members,_City-Wide_Election_of_Mayor,_Measure_E_%28November_2010%29
>
> http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/At-Large_City_Council_Elections_in_Menifee,_Measure_DD_%28November_2010%29
>
> http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/City_of_Sanger_Method_of_Electing_Mayor_and_City_Council_Members,_Measure_L_%28November_2010%29
>
> http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Method_of_Electing_Members_of_the_Eastvale_City_Council,_Measure_B_%28June_2010%29
>
> http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Method_of_Electing_Trustees_of_the_Capistrano_Unified_School_District,_Proposition_H_%282010%29
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 6:46 PM, Rob Richie <rr at fairvote.org> wrote:
>>
>> Amarillo (TX) yesterday voted 76% to 24% against going from at-large
>> elections to single-member districts -- see article below.
>> Such a lopsided vote could suggest that single-member districts may no
>> longer be a viable voting method in the United States.....Or just maybe
>> sometimes people can read a bit too much into ballot measure results!
>> Rob Richie
>>
>> #########
>>
>>
>> http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2011-05-15/single-member-districts-strike-out-again
>>
>> Single-member districts strike out again
>>
>> Posted: May 15, 2011 - 12:52am
>> By Kevin Welch
>> Saturday saw a third pretty convincing strike for single-member districts,
>> but the idea isn’t entirely out.
>>
>> The vote at the end of the evening was 76 percent of voters against
>> carving up the city into four districts to be represented by a resident of
>> that area as voted on only by residents of that area......
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> "Respect for Every Vote and Every Voice"
>>
>> Rob Richie
>> Executive Director
>>
>> FairVote
>> 6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 610
>> Takoma Park, MD 20912
>> www.fairvote.org  rr at fairvote.org
>> (301) 270-4616
>>
>> Please support FairVote through action and tax-deductible donations -- see
>> http://fairvote.org/donate. For federal employees, please consider  a gift
>> to us through the Combined Federal Campaign (FairVote's  CFC number is
>> 10132.) Thank you!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Law-election mailing list
>> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
>> http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>
>
>
> --
> Follow Ballotpedia on Twitter:
>
> http://twitter.com/Ballotpedia
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Law-election mailing list
> Law-election at department-lists.uci.edu
> http://department-lists.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/law-election
>