And Bigelow cites several practical reasons whythe system is no longer used on a largescale--particularly the length of time needed tocount votes. votes.

"We like our election results instantly," shesays.

In a city the size of Cambridge, electionofficials need as long as a week to count the20,000 to 30,000 ballots. In New York--70 timesthe size of Cambridge--an at-large PR electioncould easily be a logistical nightmare.

On the other hand, many Cambridge residents saythe week-long vote count is one of the things theylike best about PR.

"There is a genre of humor attached to oursystem of voting, and it is not to be scoffed at,"says Cyr, adding that PR's uniqueness is also anattraction.

"It is one of the few truly Cambridgeexperiences," he says.

The cost of running a city-wide campaign isanother question raised about PR.

"While theoretically you can elect minoritycandidates, they may not be able to play thegame," says Bigelow.

But Still says a neighborhood campaign may beas likely as a citywide one to put a candidateover the quota.

"In any election system, people with more moneyand more resources can reach more voters," hesays. Under PR, though, "you've got a citycouncillor who can get elected with one-tenth ofthe vote. It doesn't matter if that one-tenthcomes from every household or from one-tenth ofthe city."

COMPLEXITY, however, is the the singlebiggest problem with using PR in modern elections,Bigelow says. People have a hard time marking thepreferential ballots, she says, and few peopleknow how votes are actually counted.

"I look at New York," says Bigelow, "and theballots are almost unintelligible. Particularlyfor people who don't have a high level ofeducation, it's very difficult to understand."

But Zimmerman and Liphart maintain that realproblem lies in the counting, not the voting.

"It's usually exaggerated to say it's acomplicated system," says Liphart. "If the averageAmerican can understand all these baseballstatistics and stuff, then the average Americancan under stand PR."

"People just care more about baseball," hesays.

Says Zimmerman, "Proponents of PR argue thatunderstanding how the ballots are counted is notthat important. You don't have to worry about howyour watch works as long as it tells the time."

And Still points out that other familiarsystems of voting are no less complicated.

"How many people understand how the ElectoralCollege works?" he asks. "That one doesn't workvery well as far as I'm concerned. PR is muchbetter."