American History: 20th Century

Defining Democracy: Electoral Reform and the Struggle for Power in New York City

Daniel O. Prosterman

Defining Democracy examines struggles over electoral reform in New York City to clarify our understanding of democracy’s evolution in the United States and the world. In 1936, New Yorkers approved a ... More

Defining Democracy examines struggles over electoral reform in New York City to clarify our understanding of democracy’s evolution in the United States and the world. In 1936, New Yorkers approved a radical change in local democracy by instituting proportional representation (PR) in city council elections. Rather than traditional winner-take-all elections between two candidates representing two political parties, PR allowed voters to rank candidates on their ballots in order of preference and guaranteed victory to anyone polling more than 75,000 votes. This system enabled the election of the most diverse municipal legislatures in New York’s history, including the city’s first African American legislators and unprecedented numbers of women and third-party representatives. With their authority threatened, the Democratic and Republican parties allied against PR and the system’s coalition of supporters. Following several unsuccessful repeal attempts led by the two major parties, the election of two Communists spurred a red-baiting campaign that ultimately led to PR’s abolition in 1947. The first election following PR’s demise found all but one of the PR-elected progressives removed from office, with the Democratic and Republican parties positioned to monopolize power in city affairs for the rest of the twentieth century and beyond. This history of democratic reform and voting rights in New York City reveals how activists challenged the boundaries of who could be elected, what interests could be represented, and ultimately what policies could be implemented in urban America.Less