The Flexible Mandate: A Highly Responsive Local Legislative Structure.
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In a system of flexible mandates, city council members are elected at large, each voter is permitted to vote for only one candidate, and the number of votes within the council given to each candidate elected to the council is proportional to the number of votes the candidate received in the popular election. Using suitable response media, voters can reassign their initial votes dynamically as issues and council positions vary, so that at any given time the relative voting strengths of the council members will accurately reflect their relative support among the city's voters. Such a system would provide representation for implicit coalitions proportional to their strength on each issue without regard to geographic area. The system mobilizes voting power in minority and unorganized groups without disenfranchising the majority. In the flexible mandate's restricted form, voters not supporting a council member can respond directly from their homes, their voting strength being in proportion to their numbers. (See also P-4561.) 11 pp. Ref.
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