Political Science Commons^™

Do Electoral Systems Matter?: Candidate And Organizational Activity In U.S. Local Elections Under Cumulative Voting, Districting, And At-Large, Tracy Sulkin

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This study compares candidate and organizational activity in U.S. local elections under cumulative voting, districting, and at-large electoral arrangements. Candidates' campaign activities and their evaluations of their electoral system were measured with a mail survey conducted in the spring and summer of 1996 and winter of 1997. Preliminary results indicate that electoral systems have a negligible impact on the ways in which candidates contest elections.