Posted by The Dean of Cincinnati

Photo courtesy of here.

Does the current City Council really have broad support of the majority of Cincinnati citizens?  Or is their total re-election merely an example of what goes wrong when voters do not use strategies for making their ballots more powerful?  Last night, did City Council really receive a mandate to continue business as usual?  Or did the effect of television saturation work as voters just filled ballots with recognizable names?  All of our perspectives may be skewed by those with whom we surround ourselves, but I have a hard time believing that the City, as a whole, has been satisfied with the totality of the current council.  I think it’s time to spread the word about power voting.

For those not familiar with the theory, here is what could be happening.

First, a voter may only have four or five candidates that she finds particularly voteworthy.

Second, a voter may—for a variety of reasons—find a need to vote for nine total candidates.

Power voting would mean the voter stops after reaching the fourth or fifth candidates, leaving blank the remaining slots.  Voting for fewer candidates makes each vote more powerful.

Imagine that a voter has absolutely no real reason to vote for Chris Bortz.  If this voter knew about Bortz’s voting record, or the totality of his platform, perhaps voting for him would not be an option.  However, this same voter has been inundated by television commercials for the past several weeks.  These professionally produced mini-dramas give Bortz a good image.

So, after voting for her favorite four or five candidates, our hypothetical voter is left wondering for whom to cast the other votes.  Perhaps Bortz makes the cut for no other reason than name recognition based on big money media buys.

Let’s say our example voter primarily supports Eby, Harper, Winburn, and Fischer.  Now, feeling a need to round out the ballot, our voter may also fill in the square next to Bortz’s name.  Consider, then, another kind of voter—one primarly casting a ballot for Harris, Garry, and Jeffre.  This person might also fill the square for Bortz.

As one can see, each of these voters are not alike—but while their primary candidates received one vote, Bortz received both votes.  You can see how quickly this might add up in Bortz’s favor.

With power voting, however, Bortz would have received none.

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