Voting at large is a method in which all voters cast their ballots for all candidates in the jurisdiction and is a discriminatory method since it prevents voters of color from electing their candidates of choice. The situation happens, where the voters of color are the minority, as the votes of the majority groups submerge their votes. The voting at large method practiced in Ferguson-Florissant School District will form an important part of the discussion in the essay, which will cover the electoral mechanisms undermining the minority representation in the school. The other thing will be my recommendation for the best voting method to minimize the discrimination in the school.

I agree with the NYT statement, because of many issues resulting from the method of voting that leads to the discrimination of the minority group. In the Ferguson- Florissant School, the African-American population forms the minority group in the district and are unable, to elect their leaders of choice to represent them on the school board (Ferguson-Florissant Case 2015). The method is not right since it contradicts section 2 of the Voting rights Act that prohibit anybody from applying voting qualification that denies any United States’ citizen to vote(Ferguson-Florissant Case 2015). The election scheme dilutes the votes of the minority group, denying them the right to select their preferred candidate leaving them less represented in the school. According to what I learned about proportional representation (PR) voting in the European countries, the PR is a fair method that does not discriminate against the minority like the ‘Voting at Large’ method. PR system allows democracy to prevail and ensures a good representation of the minority group in terms of race, geographical distribution, and gender.

Electoral mechanisms that undermine minority representation in the school

In the block voting method applied by the school, there is a lot of discrimination starting from the registration of the African-American to their participation in the voting exercise (New York Times 2015). There is a lot of racial discrimination and segregation against African-American voters in Ferguson-Florissant school with racial polarization. According to the New York Times (2015), the time the school conducts, elections also prevent the African-American from participating in the voting exercise, as their turnout in April is very low. African-Americans also face other socio-economic discriminations, such as in employment, education, access to health care, and in the justice system (New York Times 2015). The other practice in the school that prevents the African-Americans from participating fully in the electoral process is the political campaigns in the school, in which there are racial appeals (Ferguson-Florissant Case 2015). The whites use statements that make racial appeals to African-Americans, such as ensuring equality in education to lure them to vote for the whites. Election of the African-Americans in the board happens sporadically (Ferguson-Florissant Case 2015)

New York Times (2015) asserts that there is no equality of education in Ferguson-Florissant School District yet the board does not respond to the problem but discriminate them openly. For instance, the board expelled the respected African-American superintendent without any explanation despite the parents and students protests.

My recommendation of the voting systems

The two voting systems I recommend to the Ferguson-Florissant School District are the proportional representation system and the semi-proportional system. The main goal of the proportional representation system is to make sure that the two groups in the school District will have a proportional and fair representation depending on the their number (Levitin and Hausken 2013). The method will reduce the racial discrimination by ensuring fair representation of the two races. The goal of using semi-proportional system is that the two races in the school will have a proportional representation and reduce under-representation of the minority group, depending on their representation ratios.

Features of Proportional Representation System

Instead of electing one person in each district, the proportional system uses multi-member district, where people elect several candidates o their choice (Levitin and Hausken 2013). the minimum vote for winning (Rieger 2011), for example in the school the board can set the minimum threshold at say 25% of the total population. In party listing, a type of PR, each party has candidates equal to the number of seats in the district and voters select their preferred candidates according to Levitin and Hausken (2013) that minimizes any chances of discrimination. Levitin and Hausken (2013) assert that the method is common in the European countries, especially the open list form of party listing, allowing citizens to select their favored candidates instead of parties.  This approach allows voters to express a preference for particular candidates, not just parties and is common in European democracies (Rieger 2011). The other type of PR is the mixed-member proportional voting mostly common in Western Germany, which combines the single member system and the party list vote in equal measure (Levitin and Hausken 2013). Levitin and Hausken (2013) observe that the method ensures geographical representation with a lot of fairness preferred by many democracies, such as New Zealand and Hungary.

In the semi-proportional voting systems, the voting system is between plurality-majority and proportional representation systems. The system helps to solve the problem of misrepresentation in the political parties and ethnic minorities (Levitin and Hausken 2013). The system applies multi-member district and voters have multiple votes, although there are some modifications in the system to minimize minority discrimination (Rieger 2011)semi-proportional voting system used by several countries, such as the US to ensure they do not interfere with the peoples’ voting rights as Rieger (2011) asserts. In cumulative voting, candidates run in multi-member districts, and voters have many votes equal to the seats, which they cast, (Rieger 2011)Levitin and Hausken 2013). The other form of semi-proportional voting is the Limited Vote common in Spain in election of the Senate and others, such as Connecticut and Pennsylvania to ensure representation of the political minorities (Rieger 2011).

The best voting system I recommend for Ferguson-Florissant school District is the proportional voting system, because of its role in ensuring minority representation. The method will work for the school since the winner will depend on the proportion of the votes cast by his/supporters. The minority group in the school can meet the set threshold, which will reduce further discrimination.

Conclusion

Discrimination on race is rampant in some States and Ferguson-Florissant School District is one of the institutions facing the problem (Rieger 2011). There are several ways in which the School discriminates the minority group, who are African-Americans during the election of their leaders. The school can adopt better voting methods, such as the proportional voting system to reduce discrimination and ensure fair representation.

References

Ferguson-Florissant Case,. 2015, 14-2077 Case: 4:14-cv-02077 1-12. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI.

Levitin, G., and K. Hausken. 2013. ‘Defending Threshold Voting Systems With Identical Voting Units’. IEEE Transactions On Reliability 62 (2): 466-477. doi:10.1109/tr.2013.2255794.

New York Times,. 2015. ‘Race and Voting Rights in Ferguson’. http://nyti.ms/1Kd8N8L.

Rieger, A. 2011. ‘Voting on Voting Systems, or The Limits of Democracy’. Analysis 71 (4): 641-642. doi:10.1093/analys/anr094