City Council Election Procedures and Minority Representation: Are They Related?.

Abstract

AGREAT ing minority the DEAL impact representation. OF CONTROVERSY of various Specifically, council HAS EMERGED member it IN has election RECENT been procedures YEARS widely REGARDproon ing the impact of various council member election procedures on minority representation. Specifically, it has been widely proclaimed that at-large election schemes have a negative impact on minority election to city councils and that single-member district, or ward, plans have a positive impact (Kessel, 1962; Alford and Scoble, 1965; Lineberry and Fowler, 1967; Wolfinger and Field, 1967; Gordon, 1968; Sloan, 1969; Klevit, 1972; Jones, 1976). Yet, there have been relatively few comparative analyses of the impact of such plans on minority representation. The few studies that have made such attempts have tended to focus merely on black representation and have used either a single city or a geographically restricted number of cities as the units of analysis (Cole, 1974, 1976; Jones, 1976). These limitations make suspect the causal relationships found in these studies. The purpose of this research is to determine whether the plan of council member election is a substantial cause of equity (or inequity) of representation from minority groups (black, Spanish-speaking, and other1) on the city councils of 243 U.S. central cities.