At-large is less democratic

The U.S. Constitution guarantees one person one vote. That's why Urbana is divided into seven wards of equal population, each with one elected City Council member. At-large elections are designed to give some wards more voice at the expense of others.

Those pushing to resurrect at-large as an improvement for the council point to the fact that more voters turnout in some areas of the city than others. Although this is a common occurrence all over the United States, they feel that voters who live in wards with higher turnout deserve a greater voice in government. But imagine if we applied their reversal of constitutional philosophy to the state legislature. The 100th Representative District, which surrounds Springfield, had 48,000 voters turnout in the last election--almost twice the number of people who voted in our 103rd District! Does this mean Champaign-Urbana voters deserve less representation than Springfield does in the Illinois House of Representatives?

Money in politics

Because at-large seats are elected citywide, running at-large requires significant funding and political party backing. Campaign contributions, radio commercials, and TV ads replace personal contact. All of this media saturation requires large financial contributions. For example, two at-large school board seats in Champaign recently cost a combined $25,000, whiel a typical ward race might cost $1,000. In other words, at-large races can be bought, while ward races cannot. At a time when every other level of government in this country is corrupted by special interests, shouldn't we keep local government accountable to local interests?

This need for money in at-large campaigns discourages the average citizen to run for office. We want people in office who understand the concerns of regular residents, not officials accountable to the monied interests that put them in office.

Direct representation

While a candidate for a ward seat can knock on every door in their ward, it would be impossible for an at-large candidate to knock on every door in the city. This forces at-large candidates to replace personal contact with media saturation. As such, they engage in one-way communication, broadcasting their ideas out to the people, hoping voters find their sound bites more appealing than the other candidates' sound bites.

In contrast, a ward candidate continuously engages in two-way communication with the voters. Every time they knock on a door they hear the concerns of their neighbors, and it is in their best interests as a candidate to remember and respond to those concerns.

The concept of local government is that local decisions are made by normal people that understand the concerns of people like them. In comparison, at-large elections produce council representatives that are out of touch with those they represent, and obligated to special interests.

Ballot choice

At-large seats discourage qualified candidates from running. The Champaign City Council has three at-large seats, but fewer than 6 people ran for 3 seats in 2 of the last 3 elections.

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"At-large voting schemes ... tend to minimize the voting strength of minority groups by permitting the political majority to elect all representatives of the district."

U.S. Supreme Court, in Rogers v. Lodge, 458 U.S. 613 (1982)

When Vic MacIntosh ran for election in 1999 to keep his at-large council seat in Champaign, he was defeated because of a lack of party support. When Vic ran in 2001 for his district seat, he won handily. At-large elections require significant funding and party support.

John Lee Johnson was elected to Champaign City Council from District 1 in 1973 and 1977. In 1981 he ran at-large and lost, even though he was a two-term incumbent.