OFFICIAL 2001 RESULTS in Bar Graph form, with some commentary.
OFFICIAL 1999 RESULTS in Bar Graph form, with some commentary.
This is not an official page for the City of Cambridge. The official City of Cambridge web site is City of Cambridge. See also Proportional Representation Voting in Cambridge Municipal Elections
The inline bar graphs are not high resolution. Higher-resolution graphs, in Portable Document Format (PDF) are availabe (these require an Acrobat Reader).
This page will not give the exact numbers from each round in detail; rather, an interpretation of the results of selected rounds will be given to indicate how the PR system leads to the election of the nine City Councilors. (The official results from prior elections are no longer online.)
Proportional Representation (PR) is the method by which voters in
Cambridge elect members of the City Council and School Committee. It
ensures minority representation with majority control. Any groups of
voters that number more than one-tenth of the total population can be
sure of electing at least one member of a nine-member Council, but a
majority group of voters can be sure of electing a majority of the
Council.
In PR election you may vote for as many of the candidates listed on
the ballot as you wish. You must, however, indicate the order of your
preference among the various candidates for whom you vote.
Mark your choices by filling in the numbered ovals only. Fill in the
number one (1) oval next to your first choice: Fill in the number two
(2) oval next to your second choice: Fill in the number three (3)
oval next to your third choice, and so on. You may fill in as many
choices as you please.
If you fill in more than one oval for any candidate, your vote for
that candidate will be invalid and will not be counted.
Be careful not to fill in the same numbered oval more than once.
This also will make your votes for those candidates invalid and they
will not be counted.
Under PR a candidate needs to win a certain proportion of the votes to
be elected. The winning fraction of the votes is referred to as
``quota''.
The quota is determined by dividing the total number of valid
ballots cast by the number of positions to be elected plus one and
then adding one to the resulting dividend.
Thus, to elect 9 City Councilors, the total number of valid ballots
cast is divided by 10; to elect 6 School Committee members, the total
is divided by seven. And in both cases 1 is added to the result of
the division.
For example, if 25,000 ballots are cast for City Councilors, the quota
will be 2,501 (25,000 divided by ten, plus 1).
The count begins with the sorting of ballots by the first preference
shown on each valid ballot. That is the NUMBER 1 vote on each
ballot. This is generally known as the ``First Count".
Any candidates who reach the necessary quota with Number 1 votes
are declared elected. Any extra ballots they receive beyond quota are
redistributed to the candidates marked in next in preference (the
number 2 preference) on those excess ballots.
The count continues with the elimination of those candidates receiving
fewer than fifty votes in the first count. Their ballots are
redistributed to the other candidates according to the next preference
marked.
After each distribution, the candidate now having the lowest number of
votes is eliminated and his/her ballots redistributed to the next
indicated preference (number 2, 3, 4 etc.).
As candidates reach the quota through the addition of redistributed
ballots to their totals, they are declared elected and no further
ballots are transferred to them.
This process continues until all candidates have been eliminated
except the nine winners.
A casual glance would indicate that the top nine recipients of
number 1 votes, who happen to be the nine incumbents, should have
little difficulty in being reelected. Quota is 1688, and five
candidates are elected on the basis of their number 1 votes. The
elected candidates and the respective surplus votes to be
redistributed are Galluccio (791), Duehay (294), Triantafillou (61),
Toomey (52) and Sullivan (11).
Transfers from Galluccio were
sufficient to elect Russell (180) and transfers from both Galluccio
and Duehay (128, 41) were sufficient to elect Born. Thus, after the
transfer of the surplus, seven councilors have been elected. Reeves
needs only 71 more ballots. While Davis needs 504 more ballots, it is
unlikely to the point of impossibility that any other candidates can
make up the difference. Basically, it's all over but the counting.
Not much difference; just a cleaner picture of what will happen
Reeves is elected after the 11th round. Davis still needs and
additional 372 ballots, but the candidate with the next-highest count
(Harding) needs more than a thousand.
There is one more round to be done, but since the sum of Cunningham's and Harding's ballots after 13 rounds is less than Davis', Davis must be declared elected after the next round. As it turns out, Davis was elected on transfers from Cunningham.
