This November, voters in Lowell (MA) will have the opportunity to improve the city’s voting system with proportional voting. The city Election Office announced yesterday that a question regarding choice voting, a form of proportional representation, will be on the Lowell city ballot in the upcoming elections.

After an impressive signature gathering effort, organizers and volunteers from Fair Vote Lowell have turned in well over the number of required signatures for a city ballot measure. Lowell currently elects both City Council and School Committee using an at-large, winner-take-all system. The same choice voting electoral system on the ballot in Lowell will be used this November for the first time in Minneapolis for park board elections and once again for City Council and School Committee in Cambridge (MA)--which uses the same voting equipment used in Lowell. Meanwhile, the town of Euclid (OH) will use a similar proportional system for their school board elections this fall.

Links:

• Fair Vote Lowell Homepage
• "Choice Voting Question Going on the Ballot" -- The Lowell Sun, Aug 28, 2009
• What is Choice Voting -- a FairVote flash animation
• A Brief History of Proportional Representation in the United States by Douglas Amy