Seven Vote System - Cumulative Voting

As most of you know, we use a system of voting in Guin that gives a voter seven votes to be split any number of ways to elect a seven member city council. The system was implemented by the Justice Department in the 1980s as a result of a lawsuit brought against a number of communities in Alabama. The link below gives an informative rundown of what the voting system is and how it came about. The site gives several opinions that I don't necessarily agree with, but there is factual information there related to the voting system that might help you understand why we use this particular system.

http://www.fairvote.org/?page=516

There are a wide array of opinions on this subject, but much of what I hear is one of dislike. The system does allow a small number of voters to elect a candidate if they choose to vote for that individual seven times. While the result may have been what was envisioned when the system was implemented, it can knock out those candidates who may have received votes from a larger number of people. I, personally, would love to see us implement another system, but we are sort of hamstrung by the decision put in place years ago. The lawsuit which originally brought about these changes has been dropped giving us the freedom to go in another direction, but any changes we make will have to be approved by the Justice Department. Essentially, that limits us to just a couple of options. The most viable of those is going to the district format. We have discussed going to 5 districts, but the feedback we've received is that the city will only get approval if we move to 7 districts. In that case, given our size, it would be very difficult to draw off districts of any significant size at all.

Whether or not you agree with the voting system in place, it's unlikely to change in the near future. So, it's important we use the system to our advantage and place the most desirable candidates in office. There are many theories as to how one should use their seven votes. Some will use all votes on one candidate, while others may split them seven different ways. I, personally, believe we should educate ourselves on all candidates, choose those who we feel most strongly about, and split those votes accordingly. If you feel strongly about only one candidate, he or she should get all seven votes. If you feel there are three candidates qualified for office, split your votes among those three candidates. Whatever the case may be, it's important we all realize the criticality of our decisions on August 26th and elect those who will move Guin forward. These are exciting times for Guin and Northwest Alabama and the leaders we choose will have a lot to say about our future.

As always, thank you for reading the site. I hope the information provided is helpful. Any and all comments are welcome.