Wednesday morning, while the candidates are resting up after a strenuous election day, Election Commissioner Sondra Scheir and a staff of 90 election officials will begin to count the ballots in a manner that distinguishes Cambridge from every other city in the country.

Cambridge's current Plan E form of government began in 1942, when Mayor John L. Lyons was jailed on 42 counts of requesting and accepting bribes. Cambridge citizens voted for a charter change, placing most of the governing power in the hands of a city manager.

Scheir says a form of balloting known as "proportional representation" (PR) was enacted at that time to ensure representation for smaller political interest groups.

PR allows citizens to rank their choice of candidates, and then redistributes votes when candidates reach a "quota" of approximately 10 percent of the votes cast, Scheir says.

Although PR was once a common form of candidate selection, according to Richard Riche, the national director of the Center for Voting Rights, its popularity has dwindled until Cambridge is now the only U.S. city to elect officials in a proportional race. (Santa Cruz, Calif. is said to use a similar system, but officials there were unable to confirm that.)

New York City also uses PR in its community school board elections, Richie says, but because of the city's tremendous size the procedure is not thought to be practical on a larger scale.

Indeed, most objections to PR are made on the grounds that the lengthy tabulation of the vote tends to delay election results. Scheir says results from Cambridge elections will not be "official" until the end of the day on Friday, while School Committee results may not be available until the end of the next week.

Cantabrigians take pride in the process because of its peculiarity, Scheir says.

A Week-Long Count

On Wednesday, workers gathered in the Longfellow School gymnasium will handcount all the number one votes on the ballots. By the end of the day, officials will be able to announce the top four of five "unofficial" finishers, who are assured of council seats.

The candidates who "meet quota" in this first round are ranked first on the ballots of at least 10 percent of voters. The ballots in excess of quota are redistributed to the second choice candidates.

At this point Scheir says, workers eliminate those candidates who have received less than 50 votes each.

The process of redistribution and elimination continues until all nine Council seats have been filled.

Although Cambridge's process is lengthy, Scheir says residents wouldn't have it any other way. The city has investigated computerized methods of recording the vote, but for now the cost is prohibitive, Scheir says.

PR in International Elections