[Reagan69]

I think this is so illegal. Isn’t anyone challenging it?

[KarlInOhio]

What's so illegal? Many places have "at-large" elections you vote for multiple people from a common list. Cincinnati has a similar system for their city council which, until recently, had the added strangeness that the person with the highest total count on the list became mayor. The only change this one has is that you can vote for the same person multiple times rather than only having one vote per candidate like most at-large ballots have.

I don't like the judge changing it, but this isn't what many people have accused it as giving more votes to Hispanics than any other group.

[Greg123456]

I have to disagree about the legality. I don’t like judges telling cities they have to have a certain type of ballot, but several cities vote that way. I remember in the city I used to live I voted for my 4 favorite candidates out of a smorgasbord of candidates for city council.

[Retired COB]

I think this is so illegal. Isn’t anyone challenging it?

Here in West Virginia we have multi member districts for our House of Delegates. The Democrats have been in a majority for 80 years in our state legislature, and by having 3 or 4 delegates from a district dilutes the few Republican votes out here.

When our election rolls around in November, I will get to vote for four delegates in my district. If I could vote for the same person four times, we might even get one Republican sent to the Legislature.

The better alternative is single-member districts (I believe WV is the last state to have multi-member districts). This would probably be the better answer for the election in question.

[Clemenza]

No. All voters, regardless of race, get 6 votes. Cumulative voting is perfectly legal, no matter what we think of it.

[Raider Sam]

Its not illegal, everyone got the same number of votes so it fits under equal protection. Its a little strange, because instead of having six different races, all the candidates are in 1 pool and the top 6 vote getters are elected. Some school boards do this as well.

The racial aspect is that no Hispanics were voted in, because they split the votes. So instead, now anyone can vote for the same person with their six votes (like a raffle). The judge is betting that all Hispanics will vote for a Hispanic last name 6 times, assuring them a spot. Its not diferent than gerrymandering a district so that only 1 race will win there.

Untoward, but not illegal.