The Independent slate, made up of more conservative, neighborhood-oriented candidates, has in the past had some trouble convincing its supporters to play the ranking game. This year, however, the Independents are making a strong bid to follow the CCA's historically successful strategy.

PR voting, while obviously aiding many of the marginal candidates, deals its greatest advantage to the city's minority groups. Minorities--not only in terms of ethnic or racial background, but also small groups divided by neighborhood or issue--stand to gain from the PR process.

The simple result of the intricate PR tabulation scheme is that it takes far less than a majority of the citizens of Cambridge to elect a city councilor or school committee member. Ten per cent will do it.

"Especially with the wide variety of differences there are in this city, it would be a disaster if we used a straight winner-take-all system," Cambridge mayor Francis H. Duehay '55 says. "Minorities would be completely shut out of the council and school committee," Duehay adds.

Current Independent councilor Kevin Crane '72, who is not running for re-election, says that with straight majority voting the Independents would probably fare much better than they have. But Crane adds that the advantages to all Cambridge citizens outweigh the political disadvantages to his fellow Independents.

"Just compare Cambridge to Boston, where there are many more minorities, but still no minorities on the (Boston) city council. Here, where we have at most eight to 10 per cent Blacks, there has traditionally been one Black councilor and sometimes two."

The consensus is that PR voting, though confusing to new voters, works. A movement during the last several years to abolish the PR system in Cambridge--used also in New York City School board contests--seems to have died, Duehay says.

Help keep PR working; bring a scorecard to the polls.