It's like Napoleon the Pig said in 'Animal Farm' ... "All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others." Say goodbye to the 'outdated concept' of 'One man, one vote'. That's just sooooooooo 'Constitutional' ... can't have any of that around here ... can't get 'our people' into office that way, y' know ... harrumph harrumph ... why, we need to be about 'fairness' and 'inclusivity' and 'big tent' and ... and ... OPEN VOTE FRAUD ... no need to worry about that 'back room' stuff anymore. Besides, it was Comrade Stalin who told us a long time ago that "Who casts the votes means nothing; who counts the votes means everything." This will do away with needing to bother with that pesky 'counting' part ... I mean, who cares ... as long as 'the right person' wins ...

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/18/AR2010061803766.html

Vote system that elected NY Hispanic could expand

By JIM FITZGERALD | The Associated Press | Friday, June 18, 2010; 6:29 PM

PORT CHESTER, N.Y. -- The court-ordered election that allowed residents of one New York town to flip the lever six times for one candidate - and produced a Hispanic winner - could expand to other towns where minorities complain their voices aren't being heard.

But first, interested parties will want to take a look at the exit surveys.

The unusual election was imposed on Port Chester after a federal judge determined that Hispanics were being treated unfairly. (They didn't have 'one man one vote'?)

The 2010 Census is expected to show large increases in Latino populations and lawsuits alleging discrimination are likely to increase, said Rob Richie, executive director of FairVote, a nonprofit election research and reform group.

"The country's been changing in a lot of places, with minority growth in exurbs and commuter cities, and there will be a realization that those minorities can't elect candidates of choice," Richie said.

That will leave minority groups, federal prosecutors and municipalities looking for ways to keep elections from violating the federal Voting Rights Act, which protects minorities' constitutional right to equal protection under the law.(How is the minority's having MORE than one vote protecting the RIGHT of the NON-minority?)

In Port Chester, trustees had been elected two at a time every two years, with conventional at-large voting. Most voters were white, and there were always six white trustees even though Hispanics made up half the population and nearly a quarter of the voters. Judge Stephen Robinson concluded the system violated U.S. law by diluting Hispanics' votes.(So now his decision will dilute the votes of everyone ELSE)

The standard remedy was to break a municipality into districts, with one district including many from the minority, thereby increasing the chances for a candidate backed by the minority group. The Justice Department proposed that solution for Port Chester.

But the village of about 30,000 objected to districts. It suggested instead a system called cumulative voting. All six trustees would be elected at once and the voters could apportion their six votes as they wished - all six to one candidate, one each to six candidates or any combination.(Sorry, this is just so much BS ... )

The system, which has been used in Alabama, Illinois, South Dakota and Texas, allows a political minority to gain representation if it organizes behind specific candidates. Judge Robinson went for it, and cumulative voting was used for the first time in a New York municipality.

ok, , this thread has touched on that very tiny cynic buried inside,

and I need a moment to ....

omg,, what a dilemma,,,,,,,,sigh


now that thats over, yeah,, that kind of sucks for the historical majority of the country,,,, but Im thinking, it will last long enough to appear to be a good effort (like AA) before it will get shot down,,,,, but then again,,every great empire must fall (or something like that)


Im probably moving on to some other country within the next decade anyhow,,,,before this one gets too nuts,,,

What we need to is disguise plutonium as something Shiny, turn it into a key chain and give one to every Liberal in this country. Actually this should have been started in 1970.

This corruption crap is getting WAY out of hand!

CRAP! THIS IS THE FALL OF ROME ALL OVER AGAIN!

Oh my, there seems to be surprise and even a bit of outrage that the Gerrymandering process which has been going on for , like, 200 years, is NOW going to be inclusive of the Latina population.

From 1964 into the 1990’s Supreme Court cases have not only recognized that district lines were unfavorable to people of color, but they also required that redistricting be accomplished to give ‘fair’ representation to those people.

Congressional redistricting generally occurs in response to the 10 year census - or if so ordered through the court when unfair boundaries cause a Gerrymander effect.

WELL, guess what, in the last 10 years the legitimate Latino population has grown by LEAPS AND BOUNDS, and we are in the midst of that 10 year census cycle.

It doesn’t really take too much insight to figure all this out, but apparently for some, it does take an article suggesting its ok to show individual bias at this (not so new) (not so surprising) turn of ‘districts’.

So - giving them SIX votes to everyone else's ONE vote is fine with you, right ... ?

I am still missing how re districting equates to giving some 'individuals' more than one vote,,,,

The way I read it, everyone gets six votes. Actually, everyone already was getting six votes, they were just required to vote for six different people for six different (but equivalent) positions. Now they can put all six votes behind one person. Any individual or group of individuals can choose to do so.

It specifically states that it's for a MINORITY ... especially the new 'favored' minority ... Hispanics.

As Butler Schaffer would say "Democracy is the delusion that my wife and I together have more influence than John Rockefeller".

Unbelievable.

Some people need to get a life, they are bored and creating conspiracy theories.

I missed that the first time through,, thanx. So everyone does have the same number of votes,,, and there is no issue,,,

there is also an IF in there,,IF it allows everyone to get behind one candidate , I dont see an issue

All the residents get six votes. The only difference is that nearly half of residents in Port Chester are Hispanic. You really should read more, or at least visit different news sites with the exact same story in words you can better understand. All this law is doing is giving more power to political minorities, more votes for everyone but nearly %50 of them are Hispanic = more power for political minorities if they organize together behind one candidate.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_el_st_lo/us_voting_rights_election

Yahoo explains it a little better for you.

Gee - ... imagine that ... by the way, the 'per cent' sign goes BEHIND the number - just for future reference. I suppose you also have problems with the fact that they COULD have thought of doing this ON THEIR OWN if they'd just been half-clever, but NOOOOO - they had to have FEDERAL JUDGE impose it FOR them ... And I don't see where this same treatment is allowed if it's applied by NON-minorities (you know, blacks, whites, asians, etc) ... THAT, since those are MAJORITIES [sic], would appear to be DISALLOWED under this ruling. But since that's not what you want to hear, feel free to disagree ... remember, the 'per cent' sign comes AFTER the number ...

You're the reason why people don't get into political debates. The only thing you seem to ever do is put-down people that post reasonable information in favor of information you so skillfully manipulate...or not so skillfully depending on how you look at it.

LOL

Political minority means the group not or least represented in the legislature. That can mean the repubs right now since they are the minority in the legislature.

It by no means meant racial minority

The court-ordered election that allowed residents of one New York town to flip the lever six times for one candidate - and produced a Hispanic winner - could expand to other towns where minorities complain their voices aren't being heard.
'

yeah, that certainly said RESIDENTS not just hispanic residents,, and I dont think voters could just decide to vote six times for one candidate if the rules were previously that you only get to vote once for each,,,

This is going beyond 'equal rights' and into the area known as 'special rights' ... and WHO believes that the machine will be set - yes, SET - to LET you cast SIX votes if you're white, black, or asian instead of the new, improved, 'preferred' minority - Hispanic ... ? Please ...