The Wilma Rule Award
Wilma Rule was an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at
the University of Nevada, Reno. She was the author or editor of at
least four books:
She also wrote numerous articles, both scholarly and
popular.
She was one of the earliest members of CfER, was active on our
Board from near the very beginning, and remained active in the organization as
long as her health allowed. She died on January 15, 2004.
Wilma Rule was a longtime champion of women's representation.
Her research challenged conventional notions about the reasons for
women's lack of political representation in the United States, which is much
lower than in other countries. Many advocates for women's
representation hold the view that if more women simply ran for office,
or if women candidates had more campaign financing, then far more women
would be elected. But Professor Rule's research of electoral methods
and women's representation around the world demonstrates the deficiency
of that viewpoint. Her research and that of others showed unequivocally
that if you want more women elected to your legislatures, the single
most important change is to get rid of our 18th-century winner-take-all
electoral system in favor of more modern "full representation"
electoral methods.
As a strong believer in proportional representation, Wilma was
concerned that our growing interest in IRV would distract us from our
primary mission of PR. We owe it to her to not let that happen, and in
her memory we have created the Wilma Rule Memorial Award, awarded to
that person or persons who have done the most to advance the cause of
proportional representation in California during the preceding CfER year.
Previous Recipients
June 24, 2017 for accomplishments during 2016-2017
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Peggy da Silva, of Members for More Representative Elections, in recognition of her work contributing to the advancement of proportional representation in California by leading the effort towards getting the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to adopt multi-winner RCV (a.k.a. STV) for its board elections.
-
Shirley Johnson, of Save SF Bike, in recognition of her work contributing to the advancement of proportional representation in California by leading the effort towards getting the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to adopt multi-winner RCV (a.k.a. STV) for its board elections.
June 25, 2016 for accomplishments during 2015-2016
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State Senator Mark Leno, in recognition of his work contributing to the advancement of Proportional Representation in California by authoring SB 1288, the bill that would give general law jurisdictions the same right to use two-round runoff, instant runoff, and the single-transferable vote that charter cities have. If enacted into law, it would represent the achievement of one of CfER's long-standing goals.
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Nicolas Heidorn, in recognition of his work contributing to the advancement of Proportional Representation in California by extensive shepherding, along with Paula Lee, of SB 1288 through the California Legislature. SB 1288 is the bill that would give general law jurisdictions the same right to use two-round runoff, instant runoff, and the single-transferable vote that charter cities have. If enacted into law, it would represent the achievement of one of CfER's long-standing goals.
-
Paula Lee, in recognition of her work contributing to the advancement of Proportional Representation in California by extensive shepherding, along with Nicolas Heidorn, of SB 1288 through the California Legislature. SB 1288 is the bill that would give general law jurisdictions the same right to use two-round runoff, instant runoff, and the single-transferable vote that charter cities have. If enacted into law, it would represent the achievement of one of CfER's long-standing goals.
- David Cary, in recognition of his work contributing to the advancement of Proportional Representation in California by drafting and re-drafting and drafting again SB 1288, making all the changes required to make the bill palatable to the legislature. SB 1288 is the bill that would give general law jurisdictions the same right to use two-round runoff, instant runoff, and the single-transferable vote that charter cities have. If enacted into law, it would represent the achievement of one of CfER's long-standing goals.
July 18, 2015 for accomplishments during 2014-2015
- Nicolas Heidorn received, on behalf of California Common Cause, a Wilma Rule
Memorial Award for their opposition to AB 278, a bill that would have
prevented the City of Santa Clarita from conducting their November 2016
election using cumulative voting. Their position of "oppose unless
amended" and testimony before the Senate Elections and Constitutional
Amendments Committee contributed to the failure of AB 278 to advance out
of that committee before the legislative deadline, thus preventing AB
278 from becoming law in 2015.
- Preston Jordan was given a Wilma Rule
Memorial Award for his persistence and tenacity in getting the Albany
Charter Review Committee to consider recommending that the Albany City
Council be elected using Choice Voting, despite opposition from the City
Clerk and other forces.
June 21, 2014 for accomplishments during 2013-2014
- Kevin Shenkman, plaintiff's attorney,
Jim Soliz, plaintiff, and
Rosemarie Sanchez-Fraser, plaintiff,
for bringing the California Voting Rights Act lawsuits against the City of Santa Clarita and the Santa Clarita Community College District and persuading the
defendants to settle the lawsuits by changing their elections to
use cumulative voting.
- City of Santa Clarita and the Santa Clarita Community College District for agreeing to settle their respective CVRA lawsuits by changing their elections to use
cumulative voting.
- David Cary for his service with CfER, including serving on the Board and as
secretary, crafting language supporting and opposing legislation, his ideas for outreach, work on the home rule bill, and analysis of election results.
June 29, 2013 for accomplishments during 2012-2013
- Joel Pett, Editorial Cartoonist, Lexington Herald-Leader for his editorial cartoon "...To Proportional Representation...Before our granddaughters
reach menopause!"
- Michael Latner, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
for the paper "Mapping the Consequences of Electoral Reform."
- Kyle Roach, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
for the paper "Mapping the Consequences of Electoral Reform."
- (Special lifetime achievement award) Jim Lindsay, Founder, Californians for Electoral Reform for starting CfER twenty years ago
June 30, 2012 for accomplishments during 2011-2012
- What's Next California? for including a question on proportional representation in its deliberative poll that showed that, without much
discussion of the topic, almost half of a scientifically-selected
sample of Californians support proportional representation,
with only about a third opposed.
- The City of Santa Clara Charter Review Committee for recommending that the Santa Clara City Council consider changing Santa Clara's elections to a
proportional representation system.
June 18, 2011 for accomplishments during 2010-2011
May 15, 2010 special career award
- Steven Hill in recognition of his work contributing to the
advancement of proportional representation in California
May 30, 2009 for accomplishments during 2008-2009
May 10, 2008 for accomplishments during 2007-2008
- State Senator Tom McClintock for support of AB 1294 in the legislature
- Yolo County Supervisor Max Rexroad for support of AB 1294 among conservatives
May 19, 2007 for accomplishments during 2006-2007
- In the statewide catgory:
- Assembly Member Mark Leno for AB 1294
- Assembly Member Gene Mullin for AB 1294
- In the municipal category:
- City Council of Davis For putting Measure L on the ballot
- Voters of the City of Davis For passing Measure L
- In the NGO category:
- Rob Dickinson for AB 1294
May 20, 2006 for accomplishments during 2005-2006
- Brian Neesby for USAC at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
May 14, 2005 for accomplishments during 2004-2005
- In the statewide catgory:
- State Senator Debra Bowen for SB 596
- In the municipal category:
- Chris Jerdonek for Davis Governance Task Force recommendation
- In the NGO category:
- Steve Willet for CfER elections
May 22, 2004 for accomplishments during 2003-2004
- Casey Peters for KPFK (Los Angeles) elections
- Les Radke for KPFA (Berkeley) elections
- The Associated Students of the University of California, Davis for Choice Voting
