What role for RCV in the election of Mamdani?
Back to school! The question has come up in my classrooms and conversations at the ongoing APSA conference. Here are some thoughts.
Read more…Data on historic use of STV in U.S. cities
All original data from More Parties or No Parties are stored here.
Do big cities need larger councils?
The DSA and Working Families Party are increasingly active in Democratic primaries and, for cities with nonpartisan ballots, first-round elections. City & State consequently reports that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new charter-review commission has been swamped with calls for “open primaries.” Out on the West Coast, however, “open primaries” are producing the same basic results.
I want to suggest that cities like New York and L.A. instead consider increasing the sizes of their councils. Doing so might take some pressure off of Democratic primaries — or what passes for primaries in cities with nonpartisan elections.
Read more…On simulating STV results
My recent report for the Manhattan Institute simulated two forms of proportional representation from the results of the 2025 New York City council election. One reader asked whether we considered STV as well. We did. The question in the age of AI is whether it’s worth the resources: time, money, and evidently water.
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