Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

Councilmember Chris Bortz, a registered Republican hiding behind the banner of independence via the Charter Party, thinks that voters are too simple-minded to comprehend something like proportional representation (PR)—which is ironic, since PR has been a banner issue for the Charter Party for years.  Bortz’s recent comments to The Enquirer are a slap in the face, not only to the Charter Party and it’s principles, but also to every voter with the mental capacity to comprehend something like “rankings.”

The Cincinnati NAACP recently decided to organize in support of PR. 

Status quo politicians, like members from the old coalition called the Fiscal Fascist Five, love direct voting for council members because it benefits big money candidates with lots of yard signs. 

Except for die hard party loyalists who vote the straight ticket, many voters have traditionally selected a diversity of choices on council in terms of political orientation.  Interestingly, the “undervote” has been growing in Cincinnati the past few cycles—in other words, more and more people are choosing less than nine candidates.  This may be indicative of growing awareness of strategies like “power voting.”

By voting in blocks, citizens can make sure that their votes carry more weight. 

For example, imagine that someone is really only excited about three candidates—A, B, and C.  Under the traditional model, that person may be tempted to fill the ballot with six additional candidates just because that’s the way it works.  Maybe choice number nine was someone like Jeff Berding.  This voter didn’t really care about Jeff Berding, but perhaps his signs were everywhere and his name was recognizable. 

Now imagine another voter—one really excited about candidates D, E, and F.  This person may do the same thing, choosing Jeff Berding in the ninth spot. 

At the end of the day, candidates A, B, C, D, E, and F all got one vote, while Berding got two.  This situation may even cause someone to conclude that Berding was twice as popular as the other candidates, when in reality no one liked him very much at all.

So the increased undervote shows that Cincinnati voters are starting to use more strategy in casting ballots.  But utilizing these kinds of blocks are only something one must do when voting within a direct election system of a large field of candidates.  What if the system itself could be catered to that very manner of thinking?  That’s where PR enters the scene. 

From a recent Enquirer article:

Councilman Chris Bortz, one of three Charterites on that reform commission, said PR could be “difficult to get people excited about it” because it’s complicated.  The three Charterites on the commission voted to return to PR, but the 10 others opposed it, their report saying they no longer found compelling the argument that PR is necessary to assure minority representation.

It’s funny that Republican Charterite Chris Bortz would support PR but then at the same time disrespect the concept as “too complicated.” It’s like he’s trying to make sure he does not contradict the party that lets him hide the fact that he’s a Republican, while at the same time making one of the Charter’s banner topics seem absurd.

Thank you for reading (and printing from) The Cincinnati Beacon.