Proponents of
nonpartisan ballots suggest that:
·
Political
parties are irrelevant to providing services.
·
Cooperation
between elected officials belonging to different parties is more
likely.
Proponents for
partisan elections argue that:
·
The
absence of party labels confuses voters; a voter who must choose from among a
group of candidates whom she knows nothing about will have no meaningful basis
in casting a ballot.
·
In
the absence of a party ballot, voters will turn to whatever cue is available,
which often turns out to be the ethnicity of a candidate's name.
·
Non-partisanship
tends to produce elected officials more representative of the upper
socioeconomic strata than of the general populace and aggravates the class
bias in voting turnout, because in true non-partisan systems there are no
organizations of local party workers to bring lower-class citizens to the polls
on election day.
Listed below is the
form of government for the thirty most populous cities in the United States,
based on the most current U.S. Census projections. The table uses updated
information from the member database at the National League of Cities.
Election
Type of the 32 Cities
|
Rank
|
City
Name
|
State
|
Election
Type
|
|
1
|
New York
|
NY
|
Partisan
|
|
2
|
Los Angeles
|
CA
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
3
|
Chicago
|
IL
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
4
|
Houston
|
TX
|
Partisan
|
|
5
|
Phoenix
|
AZ
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
6
|
Philadelphia
|
PA
|
Partisan
|
|
7
|
San Antonio
|
TX
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
8
|
Dallas
|
TX
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
9
|
San Diego
|
CA
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
10
|
San Jose
|
CA
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
11
|
Detroit
|
MI
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
12
|
San Francisco
|
CA
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
13
|
Jacksonville
|
FL
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
14
|
Indianapolis
|
IN
|
Partisan
|
|
15
|
Austin
|
TX
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
16
|
Columbus
|
OH
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
17
|
Fort Worth
|
TX
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
18
|
Charlotte
|
NC
|
Partisan
|
|
19
|
Memphis
|
TN
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
20
|
Baltimore
|
MD
|
Partisan
|
|
21
|
Boston
|
MA
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
22
|
El Paso
|
TX
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
23
|
Milwaukee
|
WI
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
24
|
Denver
|
CO
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
25
|
Seattle
|
WA
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
26
|
Nashville
|
TN
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
27
|
Washington
|
DC
|
Partisan
|
|
28
|
Las Vegas
|
NV
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
29
|
Portland
|
OR
|
Non-Partisan
|
|
30
|
Louisville
|
KY
|
Partisan
|
31 Phoenix AZ
Non-Partisan
32 Scottsdale AZ
Non-Partisan
Sources
MacManus, Susan A.
and Charles S. Bullock, III. "The Form, Structure, and Composition of
America's Municipalities in the New Millenium." In The Municipal
Year Book 2003. Washington, DC: International City/County Management
Association 2003.
Ross, Bernard and
Myron A. Levine. Urban Politics: Power in Metropolitan American, 6th
edition. Florence, KY: Wadsworth Publishing, 2000.
Svara, James H. Two Decades of Continuity and
Change in American City Councils. Washington, D.C.: National
League of Cities, September, 2003.
