October 1, 2008 — another historic day!

Oakland citizens signed a petition that was sent to the Election Compliance Services and the Public Ethics Commission. Because the current system leads too much to a political monopoly in cities and counties all across the nation, these eligible voters are requesting the change from winner-takes-all to elections of "a single vote for a single candidate in a single election for the entire council" in their city of Oakland. This change could make Oakland the first city ever to get proportional elections, something never done in the United States before. If you, too, feel a single party has an unfair chance to create a local monopoly where you live, read below what you can do!

Requesting this change based on the 14th Amendment may lead to all cities and counties in the nation having to follow suit and provide proportional elections, because that is what the Constitution delivers us. Just by looking at the words winner-takes-all, we can all see without a doubt that our electoral system is not equality based. Requesting local governments to provide us proportional elections is the first step. The Constitution says we should have proportional elections, because no other system ensures equality before the law.

For other people — who also want their local electoral system be changed into one that delivers proportionality — this may be a turning point for their electoral system. But it is important to send your Elections Commission a request to change the local electoral system yourself, too. Read below how to make such a request.

In this image one can see how inequality increases dramatically by adding just one more governmental layer that functions on a premise of winner-takes-all, a system that does not subscribe to equality. According to our knowledge of the Constitution, the image to the left represents what is described in the Constitution: first a straight line of equality before the law, and next the depression of this line by the Federal and State levels that function according to lower standards. Some inequality is therefore included in the Constitution itself, but the Constitution does not provide wording that allows the additional depression of our equality at the local levels of City and County.

Oakland voters would have an 88.89% guarantee they pick and get their own candidate

Would you go vote more often if the minimum odd of you picking your representative was 88.89%, or would you stay home during elections as often as you are now with you having that odd being 50.01% for all voters? In this image of Oakland with eight seats you can see the minimum guarantee of each system, and how much better your vote translates into your representative in proportional elections than in today's system. We bet you would come to the polls just like other people in nations that already have proportional elections.

Each person is free to copy the letter shown below, sign it or have it signed by eligible voters in your City or County. Then, sent it out addressed to your local Electoral Department. It may be good to know that the request is not based on any person asking. Rather, it is based on the right given to us in the Constitution of equality before the law, while no prescription is given in the Constitution that allows officials to refuse delivering such system of proportionality at the local level.

The Document:

And yes, if you live in another place, just copy the letter, sign it, and send it to your Electoral Department! Also, if you haven't heard about this in the news, you will understand how important it is to spread the news to your friends! Let them know that you value them as equal as yourself before the law.

What does it really mean: proportional elections?

Read Chip Johnson's newspaper article critical of Oakland's electoral system.