Posted on 11/10/2009 5:37:37 AM PST by reaganaut1
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A federal judge imposed an unusual election system on a suburban village Friday, nearly two years after finding that the existing system was unfair to Hispanics.
The village, Port Chester, is run by a mayor and six trustees. Under the new system, called cumulative voting, residents will be allowed to cast as many as six votes for one trustee candidate.
No Hispanic had ever been elected trustee or mayor in the village 25 miles northeast of New York City, although the population of 28,000 is about half Hispanic. The ruling is likely to mean that the village will have trustee elections next year for the first time since 2006.
Village officials said they were elated that Judge Stephen Robinson had not ordered that Port Chester be divided into districts.
"We got our preferred remedy of choice," said village attorney Anthony Piscionere.
Under cumulative voting, all six trustee positions would be at stake in each election and voters would have six votes each. A voter could cast six votes for one candidate, one for each of six candidates, or any other combination of six or fewer votes.
Both sides told the judge Friday they would work together to come up with a plan to implement the new system and educate voters about it. The judge said he hoped elections could be held in June.
"Port Chester is committed to making this a model," Piscionere said.
Cumulative voting is not used anywhere else in New York, but is becoming more popular and can be found in Alabama, Illinois, South Dakota and Texas, said Rob Richie, executive director of FairVote, an election research and reform group. It is most commonly used for school board elections, though Peoria, Ill., uses it for City Council elections, Richie said.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Ah, now there’s a place where I simply will not believe, nor feel compelled to obey, the decisions of that group of “elected” officials.
The civil war is coming.
Good grief. I've never heard of this before. I thought gerrymandering for ethnic/political purposes was bad, but this is insane.
This is unconstitutional.
What the hail is going on????
One fails to mention that 27,999 of the Mexicans are illegal. On a positive note, it’s one of the few places in NY that the tacos are as good as any place in the states.
They could care less about the Supreme Law as they add to the Constitution on their own and not as the Supreme Law dictates.
Language, Borders, Culture! Where has it gone?
One white man, one vote.
Minorities get as many votes as they want.
“”Port Chester is committed to making this a model,” Piscionere said.”
The only thing that should be committed should be the knucklehead federal judge who made this decision.
Gee, all I thought they had to do is learn English.
Oh, I forgot they don’t have citizenship here.
The Politically Correct States Of The Continent Formerly Known As North America:
One Illegal Alien, Six Votes
This is similar to how Councilors-at-large are elected in my city. You can vote for three, two, or give one “the bullit”.
Everyone gets the same 6 votes. Not saying I agree with the system, but it is the same for everyone there.
Wow.
This isn’t really a MAD Magazine parody - it is a real AP story.
We are in deep trouble as a nation.
Why go to the bother of an election? The judge could just appoint the mayor and trustees. That way they will get the right results.
Port Chester, N.Y.—where Greenwich, Ct. kids do their underage drinking.
Yes, but the South will win it this time. All the productive citizens are fleeing NY, NJ, etc and heading south. Then the North collapses.
I didn’t make it clear that I was speaking in more general terms. Unlimited voting for minorities is what the left wants to see happen.
And of course the burning question is, will white voters at this particular place be able to preserve more power with "cumulative voting" or "single member districts"?
There goes the neighborhood.
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