My principal purpose on this page is to make
publicly available any information
regarding the Cambridge Municipal Elections, both historical and analytical. The
City of Cambridge is unique in that it is the only municipality in the United
States to use the single-transferable vote (STV) form of proportional
representation (PR) for its City Council and School Committee elections, and it
is done so for over 60 years.
The City of New York used the system for its local school board elections until
very recently when, I am told, the local school boards were abolished.
(The New York State legislature had previously attempted to eliminate the
PR elections in a midnight maneuver which was subsequently challenged in
court.).
My hope is that other municipalities will adopt PR election methods
in some
form as an effective way to ensure minority representation (political,
ethnic, geographic, etc.) without the need for politically driven,
unsatisfactory, and contrived districting schemes.
- Robert Winters