As
the Arlington Heights Village Trustee election approaches on April 7,
residents who care enough to vote are trying to decide which trustees
to vote for. During Village Trustee elections, voters can legally
cast four votes for four trustee candidates. Not even in Chicago
could a voter get away with this.
The
theory behind getting four votes is that, because there are four
trustee seats open, the voter should be able to vote for a candidate
for each open seat, hence four votes for four candidates. In regular
elections the voter gets one vote for one candidate that he or she
prefers to fill an office.
However,
a voter that utilizes all four votes almost guarantees the preferred
candidates of the 'block' will win (see previous post on Bullet
voting vs. Block voting). If a voter prefers one trustee,
but then decides to cast their other three votes, in effect they have
just voted against their preferred candidate three times. The candidates with the four highest vote totals will be elected.
In
order to eliminate the block voting impact, voters should consider
voting for just one trustee candidate only and throwing away their
remaining three votes. By doing so local elections would become a
popularity contest, as it is in regular elections, and it would also
mitigate the effect of a small contingent of registered voters
controlling election results.
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