Voice for Democracy
Newsletter of Californians for Proportional
Representation
May-June
2001
At it's 2001 President's Council
in Washington D.C. the LWVUS (League of Women Voters, US) appointed a
task force to pursue the funding for a national study of election
systems. The shortage of staff resources at the LWV national office still
exists however; the appointment of the volunteer task force is a positive step.
The task force, chaired by LWVUS Board member, Joan Paik has 4 members and two
are LWV members from California... Doris Fine and Paula Lee. The
task is to obtain outside funding for the national study by December 2001.
The state study has been completed with Local Leagues in the state sending in final results from 5 key questions they answered using the League's consensus process. The results are being analyzed and I should be able to give you a detailed report in the next newsletter. This information on election systems was new to members of the League and generated lots of god discussion about what we really want to achieve in an election system. The actual mechanics of how votes are counted using Choice Voting, Mixed Member Proportional were often confusing for members but this initial exposure to elections systems was a great start. Many LWV members commented on how much they learned about our current winner take all system and there was general consensus statewide that ours is a system that has many problems for the voter.
Minds were opened and exposed to the more
fair alternatives that advanced election systems offer the electorate. If
California Leagues take another look at election systems through the national
study, we will have a large statewide civic organization well educated about
election systems. As a result of the state study, many members already
have a new interest and learning more about PR and IRV. And some will work to see IRV and PR adopted
in their communities.
A note
from the President
Just a short President's note this issue. As most of you know, in May 2000 you voted to drop the "Northern" from our name and become simply Californians for Proportional Representation. We subsequently increased our membership in Southern California, and at the May 2001 Annual General Meeting you elected Casey Peters of Los Angeles to our Board. This past Saturday (as I write this) we held our first teleconferenced Board meeting. We are learning how to truly function as a statewide organization, and I find that very exciting.
In any
volunteer membership organization, one can classify the members into three
groups. By far the largest group consists of the "paper"
members; you support CPR's goals and pay your dues, and perhaps find time to
read the newsletter, but you rarely go to meetings or respond to action alerts.
Despite your
apparent lack of activity, you are the lifeblood of the organization, as you
provide the financial resources that allow CPR to function.
The next group consists of the
volunteers. You may or may not go to meetings, but you will call or write your
elected officials, or help staff a table at an event, or maybe even speak to a
group. If we have something for you to do, you will do it. You are
the muscle of the CPR, as you provide the human resources that allow CPR to
accomplish its goals.
The third group, the activists, is
also the smallest. Not only do you go to meetings, you even help run
them. You participate in the discussions that set the direction of your
chapter, or of CPR as a whole. You are the brains of CPR, as you provide
the ideas and determine the strategy and tactics we need to accomplish our
goals.
What I really like is that no one
is locked into any particular category. Volunteers can become activists,
paper members can become volunteers, and everyone can recruit new
members. I started out as a paper member, became a volunteer, and then an
activist, and if I can do it, so can you.
Consider increasing your level of
activity, and let us know what kinds of things you'd like to do.
--Steve Chessin
New Board elects new officers
The newly elected Board of CPR met by teleconference on June
23rd and elected their principal officers as follows: President
Steve Chessin, Executive Vice-President Rob Latham, Secretary Matt
Grossman, Treasurer Dave Kadlecek and Chief Financial Officer Marda
Stothers. The Vice- Presidents with
Portfolios were mostly confirmed as well. Co-VPs for Outreach are Casey Peters
and Jim Lindsay. VP of Membership is Rob Latham. Co-VPs for Legislation are
Paula Lee and Pete Martineau. VP of Finance is Marda Stothers. VP of Local
Chapters is to be determined The
Editor
A
Summary of the May 12th and 13th AGM and Retreat by Rob Latham
The May 12 Annual General
Meeting: Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson delivered the keynote
address, detailing the gross disparity between the percentages of racial groups
in the general population, and representation on city and county councils.
Although
unfamiliar with proportional representation as an electoral system, Supervisor
Carson expressed support for the concept of proportional representation in
government - actually endorsing the concept in response to a question from Ed
Teyssier during the subsequent Q&A.
Following the keynote address,
candidates for CPR's Board fielded questions from the audience about their
goals and views. While Steve Willett tallied the ballots, Caleb Kleppner
reported that the Center for Voting and Democracy (CVD) has seen a dramatic
increase in both interest in electoral reform and funding for its projects
since the 2000 elections.
The Retreat on May 13:
Thirteen CPR members attended the Annual Retreat at the Center for Third World
Organizing, which rents out its spacious Victorian home in Oakland's San
Antonio district for affordable rates.
The purpose of the retreat is to set
the course for CPR for the coming year. To that end, the participants
brainstormed issues to discuss. Alas, the group's imagination exceeded the
constraints of the time available.
Still, a lot of time was spent
discussing the various activities of CPR, referring to as
"portfolios." For example, CPR's bylaws authorize its president to appoint,
and the Board to ratify, several portfolio Vice Presidents. The retreat group
discussed whether certain portfolios were rightly sized, and sought support
from those in attendance to work on those activities.
For Outreach, the retreat group
identified upcoming redistricting hearings at the city, county and state level
as an excellent opportunity to promote multi-member districts as an alternative
to line-drawing battles. Actors, scriptwriters, and other members of the
entertainment industry, as well as lawyers challenging redistricting plans were
identified as potential publics to reach out to.
The group also
explored following CalIRV's model of coalition-building that has seemed to work
so effectively.
In the Legislative portfolio, the group
felt it important to continue to identify relevant legislation and recommend
strategy. Raising CPR's visibility with the media and developing electoral
reform vocabulary and concepts were the two goals proposed for the Information
portfolio. A consensus supported the development and more widespread
distribution of informational brochures, as well as a California version of the
CVD's "Dubious Democracy" report.
Building CPR's membership among
groups currently not represented in the organization was the goal set for the
Membership portfolio.
Tabling at
relevant events was identified as an activity belonging in the Membership
portfolio. The retreat group recommended that the Board take a position on
voting equipment, and establish relationship with the Secretary of State's
office, as well as future candidates for that office.
Following the brainstorming session,
the group reviewed the progress made on the action items established at the
prior year's retreat. CPR followed through on making sure that San Francisco's
RFP for new voting equipment required compatibility with IRV/PR. Efforts to
create a presence in Southern California were also successful, although formal
chapters still need to be established. Action items that weren't completed
included and audit of CPR's books, and obtaining mailing lists from like-minded
publications and organizations. Partial success was achieved on publicizing
CPR's role in the KPFA election, as well as publicizing the election (which
used a modified form of PR), updating CPR's website, the preparation of a
budget and mailing of the newsletter.
The retreat group reviewed the
relationship between CPR and CalIRV, the sharing of mailing lists, legislative
strategy, and discussed a possible umbrella organization that could include
both CPR and CalIRV. The group felt that the addition of Dave Robinson to CPR's
Board should enhance the cooperation between the two organizations.
I led a workshop summarizing 36
actions one can take to build media awareness for electoral reform. I
encouraged the group (and readers of this newsletter) to contact reporters
covering redistricting stories and encourage them to include the PR angle. I
want to encourage local chapters and members to keep their eyes open for
stories that mention CPR, and inform the Information VP of those articles, or
better yet clip the article and mail it to CPR for archiving and fundraising
purposes.
The retreat group next made
recommendations for the composition of the incoming Board and
portfolio VPs. (See page one for the later Board
decisions).
Steve Chessin and I then demonstrated
our slideshow presentation on PR & IRV to the group and generally discussed
ways to talk about PR.
Caleb Kleppner showed the group how to use the process of selecting toppings
for a pizza among several competing tastes as a way to pitch
the fairness of PR.
After creating a Board and
Coordinating Committee meeting schedule for the coming year, and established a
list of action items arising from decisions made at the meeting.
Do you want the eNewsletter?
Send your name and e-mail address to membership@fairvoteca.org if you wish to receive this newsletter by e-mail instead of on paper. (This will save us time and cost and you will get your newsletter quicker)
Local Chapters and Contacts
San Diego County Contact
is Edward Teyssier, 858-546-1774/email at
edward@k-online.com
Southern California
Contact is Casey Peters (213)-385-2786/email at proprep@hotmail.com
Monterey County Contact
is Nat Lerner (831)-442-1238/email at natscottl@yahoo.com
South Bay Chapter
Contact is Jim Stauffer (408)-432-9148 /email at jstauffer@igc.org
San Francisco Chapter
Contact is Betty Traynor (415)-558-8133/email at btraynor@energy-net.org
East Bay Chapter Contact
is David Greene (510)-658-3085/email at dmgreene@igc.org (new email)
Sacramento
County Contact is Pete Martineau (916)-967-0300/email at
petemrtno@aol.com
El Dorado County contact
is Paula Lee (530)-644-8760/email at paulalee@jps.net
North Bay Contact is
Wayne Shepard (707)-5520-5317/email at paldebits@juno.com
Vice-President of Local
Chapters (acting) is Rob Latham (510) 632-1366 x116/email at freeca@msn.com
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Voice for Democracy is published by Californians for Proportional Representation
(prior to May 2000 Northern California Citizens for Proportional
Representation). Our web site at
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How
the Swiss do it! (List PR)
This is the first of three brief articles on the
three main types of Proportional Representation showcasing the
historical/cultural environment where they occurred as well as the technical
background of the specific type of PR.
Switzerland was one of the first countries to use the List form of Proportional Representation. With a population divided into German, French and Italian speakers, a unified nation required recognition and respect for all major groups. PR satisfies that requirement.
List PR requires each party to provide an ordered list of candidates. Voters vote for the party of their choice and the votes for each party are counted. Depending on the percentage of votes they receive, each party is awarded their proportional number of seats filled by the top listed candidates. For example, if a party has 8% of the vote for a 50-seat assembly they would expect 4 seats. The first four candidates on their list would fill these seats.
List PR is the simplest form of PR for the voter and is used in most European democracies. The United Kingdom used this form for their European Union elections in 1999 for the first time.
Variations within List PR include different ways of allocating seats, allowing the voters to change the order of the partys candidates and using a threshold (such as 4%) to limit those parties that qualify for consideration.
For more information go directly to the CVD information page at http://www.fairvote.org/pr/intro.htm
Voice for Democracy
CPR
P.O. Box 128
Sacramento, California 95812