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Category: proportional representation

Posts related to proportional representation (PR), mostly in the United States.

Report on Portland’s first STV election

I have a new report with Kevin Kosar and Jaehun Lee of the American Enterprise Institute:

Key Points 

  • Portland, Oregon, used its decennial charter revision process to overhaul its method for electing the city’s legislators in 2022. 
  • The new system divided the city into four districts, with each district represented by three members selected through ranked ballots. 
  • Portland first used this new system in November 2024, and initial analysis indicates that it expanded the representativeness of the candidate pool and resultant council.
Read more…

What happened to Prof. Joseph Kitchin?

Students in one of my courses this semester will be listening to a 1947 WNYC radio broadcast on the repeal of the single transferable vote (STV) in New York City. I need to look back at the associated assignment, but part of it asks them to think about the sorts of arguments used in such campaigns.

The broadcast features a debate between George Hallett of the National Municipal League and state senator Abraham Kaplan (D), incidentally defeated on transfers for a city council seat in one of the final STV elections (possibly 1945).

Moderating the debate is Joseph Kitchin, listed by WNYC as a Professor of Political Science at Queens College. WNYC also refers to him as “Kitchen,” but this college bulletin (1947-8) refers to him as “Kitchin” instead and of Assistant Professor rank with a UMich Ph.D.

Does anyone know what came of Kitchin? I searched Google Scholar for him about a year ago, and I don’t recall much coming up. (Going back reveals a 1942 publication in international relations, possibly his dissertation.) I also looked for records of him during my stint at QC, and the archivist could find nothing — maybe because we were looking for “Kitchen” instead.