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Category: Think-tank reports

Work I’ve done for and with think tanks.

Report: “Understanding How Proportional Representation Might Work in New York City”

John Ketcham and I have a new report out today with the Manhattan Institute. In it, we show that the effective number of electoral parties at the last New York City council election was 3.3. We defend this computation by reference to the seat-product model. Then we simulate two forms of proportional representation: open-list at the borough level, mixed-member PR with a citywide compensation tier of 20 seats.

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Coalition formation in Portland’s first STV election

I have a new report with Kevin Kosar and Jaehun Lee, jointly published by the American Enterprise Institute and Manhattan Institute:

Portland, Oregon, first used its new proportional ranked-choice voting electoral system to elect city council members in November 2024.

A variety of groups endorsed candidates in this nonpartisan election.

Analyses of these groups’ endorsements point to the emergence of four political blocs: national progressivism, pro-business pragmatism, local progressivism, and laborism.

It is not yet clear what style of politics will emerge in future elections. Possibilities include local multi-partism, local bi-partism based on coalition parties, and continued fluidity, including within the blocs themselves.

Portland’s urban politics may prove unstable and feature shifting alliances among these groups in the run-up to subsequent elections.

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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.
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