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Los Angeles, California, Amendment 8, Proportional Representation for City Council Initiative (March 1913)
| Los Angeles Amendment 8 | |
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| Election date |
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| Topic Local elections and campaigns and Local electoral systems |
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| Status |
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| Type Initiative |
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Los Angeles Amendment 8 was on the ballot as an initiative in Los Angeles on March 24, 1913. It was defeated.
A "yes" vote supported enacting a system of proportional representation, which can be described as open-list proportional representation, for the Los Angeles City Council. |
A "no" vote opposed enacting a system of proportional representation, which can be described as open-list proportional representation, for the the Los Angeles City Council. |
Overview
In 1912, two coalitions were formed to propose amendments to the Los Angeles City Charter.
The People's Charter Conference (PCC) was composed of "Socialists, labor leaders, and the group of more leftist and moderate progressives," according to historian Tom Sitton. George H. Dunlop, the founder of the Proportional Representation League, was the chairman of the PCC. The PCC proposed Amendment 8, which would have enacted a system of proportional representation, along with other charter amendments. The PCC began collecting signatures in mid-December 1912 and petitions were filed three weeks later.[1]
Amendment 8 was the first local ballot measure to propose a proportional representation system in the U.S.[2] The first jurisdiction to adopt a proportional representation system was Ashtabula, Ohio, where voters approved a ballot measure in 1915. That system was a form of single-transferable vote (STV).[3]
According to Jack Santucci, political scientist and author of More Parties or No Parties: The Politics of Electoral Reform in America, Los Angeles Measure 8 "differed from subsequent STV measures in calling for rules that would have allocated seats to pre-election groupings (like parties) in proportion to votes cast for those groupings. Thus it incorporated a key feature of party-list proportional representation.[4]
The second coalition, the Citizen's Committee of One Thousand (CCOT), was composed of business-oriented members, according to Sitton. Bradner W. Lee and Philip A. Stanton (R), former Speaker of the California State Assembly, led the organization. The CCOT proposed Amendment 17, along with other charter changes.[1]
Both Amendment 8 and Amendment 17 were defeated.[5]
Election results
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Los Angeles Amendment 8 |
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| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
| Yes | 17,446 | 48.26% | ||
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18,704 | 51.74% | ||
Text of measure
Ballot title
The ballot title for Amendment 8 was as follows:
| “ | Shall proposed charter amendment number EIGHT, relating to proportional representation in the City Council, be ratified? (NOTE.—Proposed charter amendment number SEVENTEEN hereinafter referred to is submitted as an alternative to this proposed charter amendment number EIGHT. As to these two proposed charter amendments, you may vote for either one of them, or for either one and against the other, or you may vote against both, but do not vote for both; a vote for both will not be counted in favor of either.) | ” |
Path to the ballot
Amendment 8 was a citizen-initiated charter amendment. Signatures were collected for the proposal.
See also
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sitton, T. (1995). "Proportional Representation and the Decline of Progressive Reform in Los Angeles." Southern California Quarterly 77 (4): 347-364.
- ↑ Santucci, J. (2018). "In America, why does proportional voting have to attack political parties?"
- ↑ FairVote, "PR Library: a Brief History of Proportional Representation in the United States," accessed August 17, 2023
- ↑ "Ryan Byrne, "Email with Jack Santucci," December 11, 2023
- ↑ Los Angeles City Archives, "Council Minutes File 3251913 (Election Results)," March 25, 1913
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