On the other hand, this voting system also tends to misrepresent parties, produce manufactured majorities, encourage gerrymandering, discourage voter turnout, create high levels of wasted votes, and deny fair representation to third parties, racial minorities and women. Ten states still use some of these districts for state legislative elections. Today, however, at-large voting is used primarily in local elections, primarily municipal elections. Typically an entire town or city is considered to be one large district, and all candidates for office run together against each other. How It Works.
Voters have the same number of votes as the number of seats to be filled.
Below is a ballot that would be used in a city election in which the members of a five-person city council would be chosen. All candidates for the five seats are on the ballot and voters cast five votes for the candidates they prefer. The following table illustrates how the votes might be distributed and the winners chosen. In one of them that is used in Seattle and several other cities, the at-large seats are numbered and specific candidates vie for these individual seats. All the voters in the city cast one vote for their preferred candidates in each of these races, and the candidate with the plurality wins.