For many years, Detroit has been the only city among the 20 most populous cities in the U.S. that elects all its city council members at-large, instead of by district. An initiative petition to switch to districts was submitted this year. On September 22, the State Court of Appeals ruled that the initiative is valid, so it will appear on the November 2009 ballot. Last week a lower state court had invalidated the initiative, but that decision has now been reversed. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news. UPDATE: thanks for the comments, which caused me to be more specific what I meant by “large” cities.
Here are some links about this:
Detroit Free Press Coverage
http://www.freep.com/article/20090922/NEWS01/90922041/1003/Council-by-districts-back-on-Detroit-ballot-after-appeals-court-ruling
That includes a .pdf of the appellate court order.
At-large election would be alright if a proportional voting system like Ranked Choice Voting (aka Single Transferable Vote) was used.
Austin also elects all of its city council members at large.
Seattle does as well. There have been several attempts to change to districts, but the downtown business interests and unions are always against it.
Total Votes / Total Seats = Equal votes needed for each winner.
Detroit case
100 percent of votes / 9 = 11.1111111 percent of votes for each winner.
Way too difficult for STONE AGE brain dead ignorant regimes to understand — which apparently can only understand at large and gerrymander district schemes — both of which can and do deny 49.999999 percent minorities any *real* representation.
Result — the ongoing destruction of many, many, many older cities and suburbs.