4) Is the PR Voting Method complicated and confusing for the Voter?
No, absolutely not! The only difference for you as a voter is that under PR you will rank in numerical order (I through 9) your candidate choices.
Here is what a ballot might look like under the Current 9-X Voting Method for Cincinnati City Council where you CANNOT indicate a “preference” for whom you would most like to see elected:
Vote for no more than 9 candidates Candidate | |
A | |
B | X |
C | X |
D | |
E | X |
F | X |
G | X |
H | X |
I | X |
J | X |
K | X |
Note: The Current 9-X voting system treats All your choices as Equal Preference since you cannot rank order them for whom you would most like to see elected.
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Here is what a ballot might look like under the proposed PR Voting Method for Cincinnati City Council where you CAN indicate a “preference” for whom you would most like to see elected:
Vote for no more than 9 candidates and rank in numerical order Candidate | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th |
A | | | | | | | | | |
B | | | | | X | | | | |
C | | | | | | X | | | |
D | | | | | | | | | |
E | | | X | | | | | | |
F | | X | | | | | | | |
G | | | | X | | | | | |
H | X | | | | | | | | |
I | | | | | | | X | | |
J | | | | | | | | | X |
K | | | | | | | | X | |
NOTE:
The PR Method increases the probability of your vote electing one of your preferred choices:
q Your vote will be counted for your first-choice candidate if it can be used to help elect that candidate.
q If your vote cannot be used to help elect your first-choice candidate, it will be transferred(1) to the highest of your other candidate choices that your vote can help.
q The more rank order choices you make, up to nine, the more likely you are to make your vote count for one of your city council candidate choices.
q You CANNOT hurt any of those candidates you prefer by marking lower rank order choices for other candidates.
q You are NOT required to make rank order choices for candidates you do not want to help elect.
5) Councilman Jeff Berding has proposed electing 4 District and 5 at-large council persons as an alternative to PR. Why should I support PR vs Mr. Berding’s proposal?
This is a Great question to help you be an “Informed Voter” vs a “Misled Voter”!
Here are some points Regarding Berding’s Proposal for your consideration:
1)The old saying: “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig” applies to Mr. Berding’s proposal. His proposal allows for basically the same politics and under-representation outcome as the current 9-X council election system!
2)Under Berding’s proposal, City council will still basically be elected as it is currently by a “winner take all” using a 5-X system supplemented by behind-the-scenes political bosses drawing up self serving political Districts that help them maintain power and the status quo.
Berding’s plan is not change! It’s the same old politics of dressing something up to look like change but it doesn't really change the results or outcomes.
Here are some points Regarding PR for your consideration:
1) A basic concept of representative democracy is that our city council should be to some degree like a ‘mirror of the city of Cincinnati’ which should look, feel, think and act in a way which reflects the people of Cincinnati as a whole.
2) The PR electoral system provides a fair and proven way for this to happen in Cincinnati because PR better relates the share of council seats with the share of votes.
3) Under PR, any group of like-minded voters that number more than one-tenth of the total voting population can be sure of electing at least one member of a nine-member Council and a majority
group of like-minded voters can be sure of electing a majority of the Council. This is all determined by the voters choices and interests rather than behind the scenes political bosses drawing up self serving political Districts that help them maintain power and the status quo.
4)Under PR, most people will cast effective votes--votes that actually elect someone to office. The 2008 Democratic presidential primaries used the PR system and is a great example of the outcome when everyone’s vote counts vs the “typical winner take all” system of voting used in the Republican presidential primaries.
5) Note that when PR was previously used in Cincinnati over a 30 year period, Cincinnati was considered one of the best governed cities in the USA! Cincinnati's PR council election method became known nationally as the Cincinnati Method.
6) Cincinnati has a rare second opportunity to be a leader in the nation again in progressive and effective governance. An opportunity to re-institute PR as a proven voting system for electing a city council that brings to the city governance table:
ü A city council which would look, feel, think and act in a way which reflects the people of Cincinnati as a whole
ü An appropriate and fair representation of its citizens values and interests
so that Cincinnati can more collaboratively and effectively address its needs and solve them.
6) Councilman Jeff Berding says that it will cost 1 1/2 to $3 million implement hardware and software for PR. Is this true?
Not true! PR can be implemented using commercial software and hardware at a rough cost of $2,000 to $30,000.
